Batman & Robin
by never-again-j
Summary: A Colby Granger fic, AU after Trust Metric, S4. Written for Numb3rs Big Bang at LJ. Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1

Name: "Batman & Robin"

Author: Never_again_J

Genre: Gen

Characters: Colby Granger, David Sinclair, Megan Reeves, Don Eppes, Alan Eppes, Charlie Eppes, , Amita, Larry, OOCs

Rating: PG-13, R (some chapters, mainly for language)

Word Count : approximately 21,000 words for all chapters

Disclaimer : Not mine, never would be, never wanted them to be

Summary: Set after season 4 episode 1 "Trust Metrix". AU after that. It's a Colby Granger centric fic, exploring his relationship with David and Don (mostly) and with additional appearance of other characters. Colby takes the DC job, but before he is able to leave, an unexpected situation happens, putting him in danger again.

Notes: Written for Numb3rs Big Bang at LJ. Special thank you to my sister for her beta work, all the mistakes are my own. And a special thank you to mercilynn for her art and for being so cool.

Chapter 1

"_A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.__" Walter Winchell _

"Today is going to be a long day" said special agent Megan Reeves locking her apartment door. She wasn't talking to anyone in particular, more like talking to herself – a habit she has developed over the last few years. She had a strong feeling that she caught it from professor Eppes. After all, some of these kinds of things were catchy.

Unfortunately, a couple of bad habits were the least of Megan's problems now. Things have been weird, to say the least, after she came back from her assignment at the DOJ. Maybe discovering that one of her best friends was in jail, then watching him escape and actually chasing him like he was some kind of a criminal had something to do with her constant headaches and a consistent lack of sleep.

Even after Colby was saved and all of the "bad guys" were locked away, after all of the questions were answered and all of the blanks were filled, agent Reeves still couldn't rest. Technically, Granger was no longer in danger; he was making a rapid recovery and was scheduled to be released on Friday. So when she woke up this morning, the first thing Megan did was look at the calendar – sure enough, the day has arrived. That's why Megan hurried up and skipped her morning run - she wanted to surprise her friend and pick him up, drive him home and maybe, if she was lucky – get him to talk. That last thing was highly unlikely, but yet worth the try.

Megan remembered the day she met agent Colby Granger for the first time. They started working for the team around the same time and she didn't really like him that much. He seemed cocky and arrogant, and she was pretty sure he won't make it with the bureau, let alone with Don Eppes who had a reputation to be a tough and smart team leader. But Megan's opinion changed pretty quickly after working a couple of days with Colby, because seriously – the man was good. Sure, he was a smart ass and his big mouth often got him into trouble, but he was also bright, loyal and actually really nice. Plus, he had a hell of a charisma, which drew people towards him. Colby Granger she knew was a good man. That's why Megan found it really hard to believe, when she first heard the news that he has been arrested for being a traitor.

But, all dark thoughts aside, everything was over now. Colby's good name was cleared, and even more –he gained himself quite a reputation. Now, it was time to forget everything and start over. Unfortunately, agent Reeves realized, it won't be that easy for the rest of the team to forgive and forget. Don of course, would have a hard time forgetting the event of these last months, but eventually he would do it, because he was wise and he tried not to put his emotions over the facts. David on the other hand was a completely different case. He was usually driven by his emotions and Megan feared that he won't be able to forget that easy. After all, Colby was HIS partner and his best friend; they shared something more than just a job, so it was going to be tough

Thinking about all that, Megan didn't realize that she had already reached the hospital, where her friend was staying. She went straight to Granger's room and was kind of surprised not to find him there. The panic and fear slowly started creeping inside her. Approaching the receptionist, she pulled out her ID and asked where agent Granger was transferred.

"I'm sorry, madam, but Mr. Granger was released already, half an hour ago" said Wendy, or so was written on her name tag.

"Released? Really? Oh don't tell me he checked himself out on his own?" Megan was quickly getting from worried to pissed. "I knew I should have come earlier! What was he thinking? He is in no condition to drive!"

"Lady, please calm down" Wendy asked tiredly. "Your friend wasn't alone, this man came for him and they left together."

"Man, what friend?"

"I don't know, an African American, early 30's, something like that… didn't get his first name though. Agent Granger kept calling him Skinner or Silvestre, or…"

"Maybe Sinclair?" – Megan asked hopefully.

"Yes, maybe it was Sinclair…Look lady, he was fine, really, now if you excuse me, I've got to go back to work!"Wendy was really tired, her shift was almost over and she was in no mood to deal with FBI agents.

"Yes yes, sure, thank you for the information, Wendy, have a nice day" Megan smiled and went back to her car. After all, the day started the best possible way. And she was wrong worrying about Colby and David so much. If David even came to pick Granger up from the hospital? They were going to be just fine. With that, she pulled out from the parking lot and headed to the office.

"Today is going to be a long day" thought special agent Don Eppes on his way to work. He got a call early in the morning, from the director himself, regarding the "Colby Granger is situation" as they were referring to it at the office. Everyone talked and the stories about what happened out there, in the ocean, were ridiculously different. Some told that Colby was taken hostage from the Chinese, others, that he was a willing participant and did whatever it takes to get out of jail. Don even heard a story about how Colby was the master mind behind a conspiracy, so big that even the JFK assassination seemed routine. What no one mentioned however, was the fact that Don and his team, risked their lives and jobs to save the life of a person, who they weren't even sure was in danger. Neither did anyone mention that Colby Granger gave his reputation and almost his life for a cause, only he knew about. So yes, it was going to be a long day.

The director called to ask him about his plans regarding agent Granger and his future with the Bureau. Well, to be precise, no - ask was not the right word here. Technically, he called to inform him about his decision regarding agent Granger's future with the Bureau, but he did have the decency to ask Don if he agreed. After all, Don was still Colby's boss. The director said that they wanted to transfer Granger to the DC office, so that he could work with other decorated agents, doing "important" things. "Like what we do isn't important at all", thought Don. The director believed that it was what agent Granger would like and what he deserved. What he didn't know was …well, was Colby. Don has spent a lot of time studying his agent to know, that attention was one of the things Granger hated the most. He got uncomfortable when someone thanked him or even wished him a happy birthday, let alone praised him with a medal refer to him as a hero. So Don got the feeling that's not what Colby would choose or want. But, this was not his decision to make.

Yet, he had other problems to deal with. And those problems were currently waiting for him at the office and had the name of David Sinclair, Colby's partner and Don's right hand, as someone has once put it. David was hurt, Don realized that. He has never seen him devastated and broken, as he was after the story about Colby came out. Everyone felt betrayed, sure, but David? David felt personally hurt, like he had lost not only a partner, but a brother too. Don guessed that he was kind of close to the truth.

So if Colby decided to stay it would be hard for David. On the other hand, if Colby decided to leave, it would be hard for David too. Maybe even harder, but once again, this was not his battle to win or his story to tell. He had enough trust in his agents and in their bond. And of course, he would be there for them, if they need him. His string of thoughts was interrupted by his cell phone, which kept ringing in his pocket. "Reeves" said the display and Don quickly picked up. He knew Megan was supposed to be with Colby right now, so he hoped nothing had happened.

"Yes Megan, I'm on my way to the office right now. What is it? Is he OK?"Don asked.

"Mm actually…I don't know" was her answer "I guess he is."

"You guess? What does this mean?" He was already worried "Weren't you at the hospital?"

"I was but he wasn't there…And before you say it, I have to inform you, that David came to pick him up" Don could swear she was smiling "Guess that's good news."

"Yeah, guess it is…So I see you at the office, right?"

"Sure, I'm on my way" was all that Megan said before hanging up.

Don smiled. So maybe he was wrong. And maybe the day won't be that bad after all.

"Today is going to be a long day" thought special agent David Sinclair, tiredly rubbing his eyes while lying in his bed, waiting for the alarm clock to go start beeping. Today was the day he feared the whole week. Colby was about to be released from the hospital, which meant that sooner or later they would have to talk. Maybe he should just go and do it now, because the faster he got his priorities straight, the better.

David didn't get the chance to sleep last night, because he was too preoccupied thinking about Granger and the whole spy situation. He was going over every memory and every piece of information he got, but he still couldn't see the whole picture. How was he so fooled? And should he feel fooled at all? He knew of course, that working undercover kind of goes with the job description, but he still refused to accept that the man he called his best friend, the man whom he trusted more than anyone else, was not who he seemed to be. David also knew, that in the end of the day, Colby still was a good man, even more - he as a better man that people gave him credit for, he was no traitor, he was more like a hero… Hero… Funny, he thought, a few months back, while they were on one of those long hours' stakeouts, he and Granger got in a "fight" about superheroes. David still didn't get it how Colby could think that Batman was more of a hero, than Superman. Because seriously? Superman can fly and is almost invincible. "_Almost, but not entirely" _he swore, he could hear Granger's voice in his head.

"_Seriously man, how you could say that?" David asked. "Batman is human and mortal!"_

"_So being mortal is a bad thing?"Colby laughed."You know, there's nothing wrong with being mortal David. Pain is actually healthy. It reminds you of the fact that one day everything could be over and that no man is everlasting" _

"_Everlasting, huh? Did you read the dictionary this morning again?" David laughe._

"_Bite me!" was the only comeback he got, but it was enough for them to fall into a comfortable silence again. Which of course didn't last as long as David hoped it would, because once Granger's mind was made about something, he felt the need to prove his point. "I'm just saying…Batman has all this cool stuff to use, and he has the Batmobile to use too"_

"_The Batmobile, really?" Now David was laughing so hard, he hoped that he won't screw their cover up. "The Batmobile? That's first on your pro list? Granger, man, you should first learn to drive before you are allowed anywhere near the Batmobile"_

"_Funny YOU of all people would say that…" Colby smiled._

"_What was that supposed to mean?" But unfortunately David didn't get a chance to hear the answer, because the suspect they were currently following chose that particular moment to make his move. _

_Only about an hour later, when they were parked in front of yet another bar, David picked the conversation up again, like they've never dropped it. "And you know, that Superman technically can't die, right? Almost no one knows about the kryptonite, so his chances are much higher than Batman's, who is almost as mortal as you and me."_

"_And that's a good thing?" Colby asked "The kryptonite thing, I mean. "_

"_Yeah, why not?" _

"_Don't know, guess I'd prefer knowing that even a food poisoning can kill me, than having one weak spot and fear that someone could use it against me…just saying." Colby looked so thoughtful that David started wondering how their presumably fun conversation suddenly turned into a serious one. _

"_I guess so, maybe there's something right in what you are saying" he replied. "And, Batman had Robin."_

"_Yeah he did" Colby smiled "He sure did. Though I have to tell you, man, neither red nor yellow or green are your colors. "_

Now, almost six months have passed since that conversation took place and David couldn't remember the case they were working on or how did it all end. What he did remember was Colby's smile and the sound of his laughter, filling the silence of the car. He also remembered that feeling, deep in his own gut, telling him that no matter how hard his life was sometimes, he always could depend on his partner.

David smiled bitterly and got out of bed. It was all over now. The real life was not a superhero comic book. One cannot skip the parts he didn't like or trust the golden rule that the good guys always win. This was just not how life was supposed to be.

In real life, there was pain and betrayal; there were lies and half truths, broken trust and broken promises.

Not liking where his thoughts were going, David turned on the TV and let the sound of the morning news fill the silence in his home. He looked at the clock on his wall and sighed. It was Granger who gave him that particular clock, after the third time David was late for a night out.

David sighed again. It was going to be a long day.

It was a busy morning, at the FBI headquarters in Los Angeles, California. Federal employees were running around the place, talking and arguing, phones were ringing, printers were printing, computers were buzzing… Just another day in paradise.

But all of these people stopped existing for agent Megan Reeves the moment she spotted David Sinclair, sitting at his desk, typing something.

"Hey, David! Didn't expect you here so soon!" Smiled Megan, clapping him on the shoulder and then she headed for the break room "I'm just going to grab myself a coffee and you're going to tell me all about it!"

"Huh…sure" was all what David managed to mumble before the female agent disappeared behind the glass doors. He stood up and followed Megan, but then he saw Don approaching him with a smile, almost equal to the one Megan was wearing a couple of seconds ago.

"David, you're hear already? That was quick!" Don said, greeting him "So, how did it go?"

"How did what go, Don?" David started getting frustrated "First Megan, now you…What you are talking about?"

"At the hospital this morning…?" His boss was looking genuinely perplexed

"At the hospital? What hospital?" David still couldn't understand what was happening "Was I supposed to go to a hospital? Man if I forgot, I'm sorry, I have been kind of preoccupied these days and I had stuff on my mind and…"

"Hold on! So you weren't at the hospital this morning, to pick up Colby?"

"…say what? Of course not!" Agent Sinclair was surprised, to say the least. "Why would you think that?"

"But…Megan said that…" Don looked at the female agent, who was approaching them, holding a cup of coffee and smiling. "Hey Megan, why did you tell me that David went to the hospital this morning?"

"Well, maybe because he did" Megan smiled, while the two male agents exchanged perplexed looks "Wait, didn't you?" She asked, and David just shook his head no. "But the lady at the hospital told me you did" she looked really disappointed.

"That I personally was there?" David's head was spinning now, he didn't know what was happening, but whatever it was, it made him feel really uncomfortable.

"Well yes…no…it's just that she described a man with your description and with a similar last name and I just assumed…" agent Reeves looked somewhat embarrassed

"You assumed that I'm the only man with that description and with a similar last name in the whole LA? Come on, Megan, you should know better than that. I have no job picking up Colby, I'm not sure if I want to see him again…ever" with that David stormed out of the office, leaving Don and Megan on their own, to try and solve the mystery of the morning. They both sat in silence for a couple of moments, before Don finally spoke

"So…would you tell me what just happened here, Megan?" He tried cautiously

"I…honestly don't know, Don." Megan tried "It's just that…Don't know, guess I wanted so much everything to be as before, I saw an opportunity and…well you know the rest. I was wrong, made wrong assumptions, based on insufficient amount of facts…"

"Ok, don't sweat it, guess it was too good to be true" Don sighed "If it makes you feel better, I wanted it to be true to. Guess we'll just have to deal with it the hard way."

"Which is what?" Asked Megan hopefully.

"Wait for Colby to come back to work and see what happens" Don said and started going through files, indicating this way that their conversation was over.

Megan sighed and went back to doing her job. It looked like something was about to happen, yet she had no idea what to expect. He just hoped they'd get their lives back together.

Later the same day, Don Eppes found himself as usual, at his brother's place, having a beer with Charlie and their dad. They didn't talk often about the fact that Don almost lived there again. He still argued that he had his own place and liked it that way, but technically he spent every second night at the house, even when Liz was in town, she stayed there with him. So, as usual Alan cooked for the three of them and they sat down, talking about what was going on in their lives.

"How was your day Donnie?" Asked his dad, worried for his eldest. "You look stressed…What's on your mind?"

"Let me guess" Charlie tried. It really didn't require being a genius to figure that out. "It's Colby right? No news from him?"

"Yes it's him and nope, no news" Don rubbed his eyes tiredly. "The whole mood at the office is stressed, and I know that it's my job to fix it, but I don't really know where to start and frankly I don't even know if I can change anything, not right now at least."

"How to start what?" Alan still didn't get it. "What can you do for the whole office? Don't you work under stressful circumstances all the time?"

"Guess we do, it's just that…Colby got an offer to be transferred to DC and I don't know how I feel about it." When he said this, Don suddenly remembered that he'd never passed the information to Colby, so technically, he didn't know about this opportunity.

"Plus, David is nervous and distracted, and Megan…well Megan is just being Megan" Don smiled.

"Wait, so Colby got a job offer and you don't want to let him go?" Charlie asked surprised "That's good news. I mean, I thought you didn't want him on the team anymore?"

"I do…I don't… I don't know" Don suddenly felt tired and overwhelmed by the weight on his shoulders "Seriously guys, I appreciate that you are trying to help, but, let's talk about something else, shall we? How's Amita, Chuck? Haven't seen her around recently"

As clueless as Charlie Eppes appeared sometimes, he still got the hint that the conversation was over. Right now what Don needed was a way to get his mind off his job.

"Fine… she's busy with her students; some of them are giving her a hard time…" Charlie laughed. "It's actually a funny story…" and he went on about something that happened at CalSci that afternoon.

Charlie was pretty sure Don wasn't paying attention, but that was OK. As long as his brother got some rest, Charlie was ready to talk the whole night.

Don closed his eyes and let his brother's ramblings lull him to sleep. Things were as far from OK, as they could possibly be, but at least he always had his family to turn to. Charlie and his dad were always there for him, even when he didn't want them to be. Right now, Colby Granger had no one.

"_You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.__" __Friedrich Nietzsche _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"_Try and fail, but don't fail to try.__" Stephen Kaggwa _

It was around noon, when Charlie arrived at the office, and it was noisy, no surprise there. The agents, he passed on his way to the bullpen barely acknowledged his presence, so no surprise there too.

Don was sitting at his desk, chewing a gum and reading a report. At least someone else, who hadn't grown up with Don Eppes could think that. But Charlie caught on the way his eyes didn't really move and besides he looked way too concentrated to be actually reading a report.

Megan was filling in paper work, David typed something on his computer, Liz was nowhere to be seen. Obviously just another day at the office. Literally.

Charlie cleared his throat "Guess you guys are busy…"

"Guess we are". David threw over his shoulder, not even bothering to look at the professor.

"Oh Charlie, hello."Megan smiled at him. "You should excuse David; he's not really in a mood these days".

"Guess you still haven't heard from Colby?"

"No, we expect him here today… At least I expect him here today" Megan corrected herself.

Don sat and listened to his brother and Megan talking. He thought of being grateful for simple things like friendly bantering or shared jokes, wanted to get a call informing him of a bank robbery, or a serial killing, however mean that was, so that simple things could replace the edgy and nervous mood that his team shared now, so that he could start complaining about those simple things again.

"I'm sorry but I believe you came here for nothing, bro" Don said when Charlie looked at him for support. "We can't use your skills on a case when we don't really have a case."

"That's Ok" Charlie smiled. "I guess I'll just have to wait for the next crisis and then offer you my skills."

"Guess you won't have to wait long professor" Liz suddenly came behind them. "Colby Granger was spotted coming into the building. I believe your crisis is in the elevator right now" She tried making a joke out of it, but they all knew the seriousness of the situation. They haven't seen Colby since the hospital, and no one knew what to expect.

"Guys, be cool" Don tried taking the things in his hands "Don't forget that he's one of the good guys and he almost died for this country…he almost died" Don shook his head and took a sip from his coffee, making eye contact with David.

"And also don't forget, that he spent the last two years, lying to us" David huffed "Just saying…"

"David"

That sounded like a warning, maybe because it was a warning, but David decided to ignore it.

"Come on Don, whose side are you on? After everything Colby Granger did? And, how could you expect me to be cool? You know how I feel about that lying trai …"

"Now more than ever" came a silent reply somewhere from behind them.

As on command, the team members turned their heads to see a slightly pale, but generally healthy looking agent Granger leaning on the door, smiling nervously. Or sadly.

Not surprisingly, Megan was the first one to break the awkward silence. "Hey you" she said, hugging the younger agent "How are you doing? You look better than the last time we saw you."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking" Colby smiled, grateful for the support "No permanent damage, at least none that I know of" he laughed nervously.

"What's the deal with your hospital check out?" Megan suddenly turned from friendly to angry "I stopped by to help you out, the other day, and turned out you checked yourself out with the help of some unknown friend of yours? And didn't even call?"

"Ok mom, leave the kid alone" Don interfered, clapping Colby on the shoulder "Good to see you alive Colb, but Megan's right, you could have at least called after the hospital?"

"Why should he?" came David's bitter comment "After all, he didn't bother sharing information for the last two years, why should he suddenly start now?"

"Geez David, supportive as ever" Colby said and immediately regretted the smart ass retort "I'm sorry, look… thank you for, you know, saving my life and…" but it was already too late.

"You're welcome, PARTNER" David threw angrily and stormed out of the office "See you later guys… or not."

Megan signed heavily. "Couldn't you keep your mouth shut just a little bit, Granger? It was really hard on David; it would take him some time before he gets over it, so you'd better be prepared and patient"

"Ok guys, give me and Colby a moment please, there's something we have to talk about" Don asked his team and motioned to Colby to follow him into the break room.

Don looked at the agent closely "You alright, Colb?"

"Sure, great" he answered and immediately cursed himself. That was way too quick to be casual, and knowing his boss, that won't go unnoticed.

"Uhuh" and of course it didn't. "Now take a breath, and try again- you alright, Colb?"

Colby closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Nothing goes unseen by Don Eppes, so he might as well clear the air.

"Honestly… ? I don't know Don" he sighed. "These last couple of months have been crazy, and not in the good way". Don laughed at that. Trust Colby Granger to make an understatement.

"And I don't know this whole spy stuff..." he waved his hands in exasperation "It's not what I signed up for, you know? I mean, I get it why David's pissed and frankly I'm surprised how you and Megan could be so cool about it…"

"Let's make something clear" Don interrupted "We are not cool with it Colby." Crap, that sounded wrong, and judging by the hurt expression on Granger's face, he took it wrong too "No, I mean, we're not cool with you going spy kid on us, of you almost dying… And you gotta understand David, you were his partner, that meant a lot to him…"

"I know that Don, and believe me, I wish I could change that, I wish I could make it up to him, or at least prove him that when it came to us…"he smiled at the way that sounded. "I was completely honest…but… I don't know, boss, I just feel like I'm drowning and my dad used to tell me that when you feel like drowning, you go out of the river and dive again, you don't stay, trying to see if you could make it the way you are…"

"So what you're saying Colby?" Don was prepared for that but somehow it still came as a surprise "You want to quit?"

"I don't know…you know me, I'm not a quitter" he laughed "But… be honest with me, Don, I'm a big boy, I can take it. Is there any place for me in the team?" he sounded almost hopeful, almost pleading and it broke Don's heart.

"Before I answer, there's something you should know" he tried buying some time "The director called the day you checked yourself out of the hospital, he said they want you in the DC office…"

"DC, huh?" Colby knew he should be grateful, be pleased, because some agents worked their whole lives for the Bureau, and never got offered a spot in the central office. But somehow it felt like a punch in the gut "So you think I should take it?"

"I think it's a great opportunity for you"

"So that's a no for me staying here" he suddenly sounded angry.

"I think the DC is…" Don realized that he was repeating himself

"A great opportunity, got it" Colby nodded and stood up "Thank you, Don, I'll think about it… or no, I'm still on a medical leave till the end of next week, that's when I came by to pick up my stuff."

"Colby wait" Don jumped to his feet and stopped the younger agent from leaving. "I'm sorry, it's just…you have to understand, after everything, I have to think of the team."

"I know Don, and I appreciate your honesty, I really do" Colby smiled and clapped his boss on the shoulder. "I see you next week, OK?" and with that he left the office.

"So how did it go?" Megan approached Don as soon as she saw Colby leaving. "He's OK?"

"Yes…Great opportunity…" was all that Don said before taking his jacket and leaving. He hoped he was right and he didn't just make a big mistake.

A week after he last saw Colby at the office, Don decided to stop by his place and check up on him. Colby said he'll stop by the office Friday afternoon, but Don thought it'd be better if he sees his former agent in a non-formal environment, i.e. away from the office and the rest of the team, mainly away from David, who was still unwilling to talk about anything, that included Colby Granger.

Don thought about calling Colby first, but then decided against it. Calling would give Colby the opportunity to "not be at home" and Don had a strong feeling that he wasn't really welcome at Granger's apartment. So, he just bought a six pack and decided to come without warning. Not sure what to expect, Don rang the doorbell, trying to think of a good reason for his visit. He expected Colby to be reluctant to speak to him, he even expected him to slam the door in his face. What he didn't expect was seeing a middle aged man, opening the door.

"Can I help you?" the man asked

"Uh…" Don was surprised, which didn't happen often in his life "I'm sorry, I'm looking for Colby Granger, last time I checked, he lives here…"

"When was that?"

"When was what?" now Don was practically lost. He must have had a funny look on his face, because the man just laughed.

"When did you last check? About Mr. Granger living here I mean?"

"I'm sorry, I don't get it. Doesn't he live here anymore?"

"I'm afraid so" the man answered. "He moved out a couple of days ago "I'm the landlord, I'm redecorating the place, it needs some improvements."

"Huh…" Don did not see that coming. "Did he say where he's going?"

"Not really" the landlord seemed to be trying to remember. "No, he definitely didn't. He said he found another job, and will be moving out of LA by the end of the week, so he vacated the place."

"What about his mail? Did he give you another address where you can send it to him?"

"No, I asked and he said to just throw it away, said he didn't expect anything important…Guess he's leaving for good" the man said. "It's a shame though; he seemed like a good guy."

"Yes, he is" Don just nodded. "Thank you for your time."

"Anytime"

Maybe she should have called first.

Later the same week, on a late Friday evening; the team was at the office, discussing the latest case they had. A bunch of what seemed like highly skilled men were robbing wealthy households, stealing everything – from money and jewelry, to kitchen equipment and cars. There were three cases to date, and Charlie was just able to elaborate a profile and a way to catch the criminals.

Things looked almost back to normal, much to Don's relief. Megan was sarcastic, David was tough, Liz was out of the town working on a case with narcotics, and Charlie was smart… So yes, back to normal. Almost. Every time he stopped and thought about it, Don realized that something was missing and as much as he wanted to pretend that the things were OK, he knew they weren't. He still couldn't get over the feeling that he made a mistake by not keeping Colby. Alan said that it just needed time and Don really hoped that was the case, but he was starting to doubt it. No matter how much time may pass, he still would have to live with the idea that things could have been different, if only…

"Hey Don, you with us?" Megan's curious slightly worried eyes were looking at him.

"Yes, sure Megan, sorry I just thought of something" he really hoped she wouldn't ask any questions "What were you saying?"

She seemed to sense that, so she just nodded "I said it looks like Charlie was right and we won't get to hear from our robbers till next week, which I guess is good news, we'll have more time this way…"

"And less information, and more victims" added David "I wish these guys have another pattern and work faster, I'm getting tired of waiting for them to make their move."

"Be careful what you wish for, David" Megan had her profiler face on, much to Don's amusement.

"Or what? I can get in trouble?" David on the other hand, had his macho man look on, much to Don's discomfort. David was edgy, nervous and slightly irrational, these last months, and it only got worse after the last time Colby visited the office. Don was starting to get tired of this attitude, because after all, David's unwillingness to forgive and forget was the main reason why Don didn't ask Colby to stay on the team.

"Or nothing! Jesus David, acting so childish, I'm just saying…"

"What are you saying, Megan" he was obviously looking for a fight, but before Don could interfere, there was a knock on the glass door of the bullpen, and he saw Colby Granger standing in the doorway, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Hey guys, hope I'm not interrupting" he said sheepishly

David threw him a dirty look "As a matter of…"

"As a matter of fact you're just on time" Megan interrupted and went to greet Colby. "How you've been doing? Haven't heard from you since the last time you were here."

"I'm good Megan, thanks, just been taking it easy, you know" he looked around the empty office "Where is everybody?"

"It's Friday silly" Megan laughed "Don't you remember that only the losers stay at the office so late on a Friday?"

"Ah yes, the losers" Colby smiled. He remembered the way he used to complain that Don made him work late on Fridays, while everyone else had the night off. He kind of wished to be able to complain about that again.

"You look good Colb" Don came to greet him. "Listen, I stopped by your place the other day, but the landlord told me you moved out? Something you want to share with the rest of the class?"

"Doubt it" David supplied from behind. Just when Colby was about to reply, Charlie walked in.

"Hey guys, I've been working on the case and…oh hey Colby, good to see you! How are you? Any news?"

"Hey Charlie. Yes, actually… But before that, to answer your question Don, I did move out, a week ago. Been living with a friend for the last couple of days, cause I don't think I need the place anymore…"

"So you're moving away after all?" Megan asked.

"I am… I took the DC job, as you said…" he looked at Don "It's a great opportunity. So my plane leaves tomorrow morning… I just stopped by to…you know, say goodbye and… well you know. Despite everything that happened these last couple of months…" he looked at David. "Well, just let me say, that I'm grateful for the chance to have worked with you guys and… I'll miss you" he said smiling sadly.

"Oh Granger" Megan clapped him on the shoulder "I'm sorry you have to go. Who am I going to make fun of if you are not around anymore?" she hugged him tight and whispered in his ear "It was great working with you, I'll miss you."

"Yes Colby, I'm sorry you have to go" Charlie said sadly "This place won't be the same without you."

"Thank you professor" Colby smiled. "And thank you…for you know, being so smart" he laughed "I'm pretty sure I owe you my life."

"Yeah well…you're welcome"

"Colby… I…" Don started, but then changed his mind "If you ever need anything, just give me a call, OK? You know I'm here for you."

"Thanks Don, I really appreciate it" Colby said and looked at David, who was way too busying pretending that he reads a report "David…" he tried.

"Have a nice flight" was all David said, not even bothering to look up.

"Yeah, OK…" Colby whispered sadly. His whole posture was screaming "I don't want to go", or at least that's how Megan interpreted it, looking at her friend, standing with his hands in his pockets, looking awkward, sad and maybe even somewhat broken. "Ok, guys…guess this is it, huh?" He smiled at Megan "I'll call you when I get there."

"You better" Megan said quietly.

Colby looked at David, or better say at David's back one last time, smiled and left the office.

"Why do I have the feeling we won't see him again?" Megan Reeves asked no one in particular. She just signed and went back to her work.

A couple of hours after Colby's farewell, Don announced they were done for the day. As always his team was the last to leave the office, so they turned the lights off, but didn't bother closing the doors, knowing that the cleaning crew would be there soon.

The elevator ride was quite. Neither the agents, nor professor Eppes felt like talking. The doors opened at the first floor and let them into a half dark hallway, as expected, empty. A single guy was cleaning the floor. None of the members of Don's team paid him any attention. In retrospect, Don thought, that was his second mistake.

The first mistake was leaving his gun at the office, but that was already water under the bridge.

The skinny guy in a janitor uniform looked startled, when he saw the agents and Charlie exiting the elevator. He just stopped whatever he was doing and stared.

"Can I do something for you?" Don asked tiredly, when he noticed the guys stare.

"Actually…" the young guy said "The question is can I do something for YOU" and he unzipped his jacket showing what looked like a self made bomb attached to his body "No one moves or I'll blow this place up immediately!"

"_Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.__" Mary Anne Radmacher _


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"_Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.__" W. Clement Stone _

"I said, no one moves" the guy yelled again, looking frantically around the room. "You!" he pointed at Don "Go to your friends over there and don't move."

Everyone looked startled. One wrong move and the building may blow off.

"Listen, why don't we…" Don tried

"No, YOU listen to me! Shut your fucking mouth up!"

The agents recognized the look on the guy's face. Using the technical term, it may be said that he was extremely disturbed and psychologically unstable. Using the common language, it may be said that the guy was nuts. This was the worst kind and one didn't need a degree in psychology, to know that. Having that degree, Megan Reeves understood that the best strategy right now was not to make rapid, drastic moves and let the man say what he wanted to say. Then act upon it.

"Now you!" He pointed a gun at Charlie "Come here."

Charlie looked terrified. It wasn't the first time someone pointed a gun at him, but he never got used to it. He doubted that he ever would. Of course if he died right now, he wouldn't get the chance to see if he'd ever get used to it. Funny what a person thinks about when there's a great chance he's about to die.

"Why him?" Don tried interfering for his brother "Take me, he's just a college professor. Take me."

"How stupid do you think I am?" the villain snapped back, putting the gun to Charlie's temple. "Now everyone, slowly take your guns, put them on the floor and very slowly step back… I said on the ground!" He yelled at David, who seemed to be considering taking a shot "One wrong move and Dexter's brains here would be redecorating the floor."

Megan and David did as they were told. "Ok, take it easy pal, no one wants to get hurt" David said calmly "Take it easy Charlie, he won't hurt you"

"Shut your freaking mouth" the guy seemed to be getting more agitated by the minute. That was never a good sign. "I said EVERYONE puts their guns on the ground" he looked at Don "What are you waiting for?"

"I heard you the first time "Don seemed cool and calm. At least on the outside. It was obvious though, that his brain was thinking frantically "I don't have a gun on me."

"You're a fed?"

"Yes, but I left the gun upstairs" Don replied with a sad almost smile. "Didn't think I'd need it."

"Yeah, great story, now shut up and sit down" the guy pulled Charlie closer to him. "Now, everyone take those handcuffs I know you have on you, and lock yourselves to the nearest desk."

The agents did it. There was no point for an argument. Not when Charlie's life was on the line.

The guy seemed to be satisfied; he released his hold on Charlie, who immediately stepped back. The criminal pointed the gun at Don, throwing him and Charlie two pairs of handcuffs to do the same as the rest of the team members.

"Where did you get those from?" David said, locking the handcuffs around his wrists

"Let's just say, I know a guy", was all the reply he got. The man was in a total control now, which in a weird way was good, Don thought. At least now he had less chance of blowing the place off for no reason. Now, they had to find out what was that thing all about. That's what he decided to do.

"Listen…" Don started, addressing the unwelcome visitor. "You have us under your control now. What do you want?" The man wasn't looking at him, though. He was busy shutting the drapes and locking the doors. Once satisfied, he returned to his prisoners.

David decided trying "My name is David Sinclair, these are my colleagues – Don Eppes and Megan Reeves, and the guy you pointed a gun at is Charlie. Would you mind telling us why are here? What did we do to you that you want to blow us off?"

Good, Megan thought. Personalize the victims, so that the criminal would know that they are not only faces, but real people.

"You didn't do anything and drop the personification tactic. I don't care about you. I didn't expect to find anyone here at this hour." The guy snapped. David's plan didn't seem to be working. "It's not you, it's the federal building I'm targeting. You are just in the way" he looked around. "But it doesn't mean I won't kill you, casualties are a welcome addition, when it comes to making a point. Now shut up. I have to think."

Don, Megan and David did as they were told to. They knew the security cameras have already revealed what was going on, by the look of it, there was a lot of movement outside, so now they just had to wait.

Fifteen minutes passed in silence. 900 seconds under a death threat, staring at a gun AND a bomb, knowing that any next second might be the last one. Funny, there was a time when Charlie thought HIS job was stressful. Now he wished he was back in his office, grading papers and arguing with Milly. He glanced at Don. His brother's face showed no fear or despair; actually it showed no emotion at all. Somehow that thought was not comforting.

Suddenly there were movements outside, followed by a knock on the door. Everyone, even the criminal, braced themselves for what was about to follow. Megan closed her eyes, hoping she'd get a chance to open them again.

"No one goes inside or I swear I'll blow this place up!" The guy shouted pointing his gun at the door.

"Please, don't shoot" a calm voice replied from behind the door. The agents exchanged glances. There was no doubt whom this voice belonged to. "My name is Colby Granger and I'm unarmed." Said the voice. "I'm going to get inside and we are going to talk, so please, just don't shoot, OK?"

"I said NO ONE GOES INSIDE!" the guy yelled again. "Don't make me shoot these people here!"

"Ok, but at least pick up the phone; I really have to talk to you" Granger said calmly.

The guy just smirked, still pointing the gun at the door. "What if I don't want to talk to YOU?"

"If you don't, it's up to you, but the SWAT here gave me 15 minutes to calm you down and if I fail, they are coming in. Lots of people would die, lots of good people…"Colby sounded calm and relaxed, but David could bet anything, that his partner was sweating like a pig. He couldn't help but smile at that.

Funny how despite everything, when push came to shove, he still referred to Granger as his partner.

"I don't care who dies or who doesn't!" the criminal was pacing around the room now, looking disturbed. "As I said to your friends, casualties are welcome!"

"That's crap" Colby answered from behind the door.

"Excuse me?" The armed man looked at the door with disbelief.

"I said that's crap, and you know it" Colby repeated calmly. Every other person in the room froze. That's it, Megan, thought, Granger's big mouth is finally going to get them all killed. She closed her eyes and prepared for the inevitable blow that was about to come. A couple of moments later, there was still silence, so she dared to open her eyes again. Nothing has changed.

"Ok, come inside, I have to see the face of the moron, who is going to help me kill some feds." The guy demanded.

"Sure, I'll come inside, but on one condition. You let the professor out and I'll come in."

Oh God, Charlie thought. Colby was willing to trade places and risk his life. Charlie looked at Don, shaking his head no, indicating he won't do it. Don just nodded. He silently thanked Granger for that move. Even if they were about to die, knowing that his brother was safe meant a lot to him.

"Why should I do such thing?" the guy asked the closed door.

"Because if you are serious about killing federal agents, another agent is worth much more to you than a college professor. Now please, let him out and I'm coming in. You have my word, nothing is going to happen to you."

The guy seemed to be considering it for a second, then he made up his mind and unlocked Charlie's handcuffs. "OK, I'm letting weird boy here go, but if you lied to me, I'm blowing this place off immediately."

The next couple of minutes passed in slow motion. The guy made Charlie get up and go to the door, then he went out and Colby came inside, locking the door behind his back.

"Hi" Colby smiled sheepishly and totally out of place, considering their situation.

"Sit down and lock yourself up" the guy threw him a pair of handcuffs. Colby did as he was told.

"What did he say your name was, agent?" The guy asked "I guess I do want to know my victims."

"It's Colby" the agent said "But my friends call me Granger." He laughed and winked at Megan briefly, before concentrating back on the man in front of him. "And once again, this whole thing about needing a federal building to blow up… that was a load of crap."

"What was?" Megan noticed that despite all odds, Colby has somehow managed to get the guy's attention, which was by all means good. Obviously her coworkers have come up with the same decision, because no one was making any moves to interrupt.

"That whole "I'm going to kill you all, because I'm a big bad guy with a federal building issues" speech that you just gave." Colby answered trying to make himself comfortable on the floor

"How do you know that?" The guy was getting frustrated, Don noticed. "I came here with the sole purpose of getting revenge, of making my point! And you know I'm capable of killing you right now if you don't shut your mouth!"

It was a dangerous game that Colby was playing. There was a high possibility that they all won't make it alive.

"Oh, ok, so you do have a point? Do please tell us what it is, because from where I'm sitting it seems like you are just another psycho that has somehow gotten his hands on his dad's toys and comes here being all big boy, looking for a so-called revenge" he made air quotes with his one free hand and proceeded. "And no offence, I do believe something bad happened to you, but believe you me pal, that's no reason to go kill crazy".

Colby was either a very good actor or he was getting pissed. Unfortunately, for the two years they have been partners, David stopped trusting Colby's acting skills long ago.

"What do YOU know about bad, huh?" the guy was yelling, practically in Granger's face "You don't know what bad is! You don't know what pain is! You with your government job, you think you know everything? You know nothing!" he was on a roll now. "You stay here in the warm glamorous LA, at your nice office and play law enforcement, but that's not life! You don't know what it's like out there, in the real war; don't know what it's like losing friends, what it's like waking up in…"

"Waking up in a cold sweat every night" Colby interrupted him. "Even when you are thousands of miles away from the battlefield, it still lives in you. What it's like screaming your lungs out because of a nightmare in the middle of the night; what it's like freaking out when you hear a simple blown tire, because it reminds you of explosion; what it's like not to be able to talk to anyone about what's on your mind, because you're afraid they mind send you to see a specialist…Is that what you were going to say?"

The guy didn't answer; he just looked at Colby incredulously. "Yes…" he said after a while.

No one else was saying anything. It seemed like Colby found a way to talk to the man, and the others didn't want to interrupt. "How do you? Did you? How…" he didn't seem to be able to find the right words.

"Two years in Afghanistan" was all that Colby said. It seemed like a good enough answer.

"Then you know" the guy agreed. "Then can you tell me, what did you do? How did you make the nightmares go away?"

"Who told you I made them go away?" Colby smiled sadly, but seeing the guy's doubtful look, just proceeded. "I'm sorry…Steve, can I call you Steve? You look like a friend of mine, his name was Steve, and since I doubt it you'd tell me your real name, I'd call you Steve"

"Steve is good" the guy answered.

"Good. So Steve, I'm sorry to tell you this, but the nightmares never go away…It does get better though" Colby smiled. "After a while they get scarce, from every night it gets to once, twice a month, which is as good as it could possibly be."

"How do you deal with it?" the armed, resentful villain from just a couple of minutes ago, now looked like a lost, scared kid, and Megan had a strong feeling he actually was one.

"I try occupying myself with other things… job, workouts, music…the occasional drinking doesn't hurt either" Colby smirked. "But most importantly –you have to have someone to talk to, when it gets really bad. I assume you don't have that someone, though…"

"What makes you say that?" Steve asked

"What do you think? You stay here with a bomb around your waste, holding five people hostages… I believe you didn't get here by talking to your shrink."

"No, I guess I didn't…Who do you talk to? You have a shrink?"

"Why do I need a shrink if I have my job and coworkers to brainwash me" Colby winked at Megan again. "No, no shrink. And since I'm not really a family guy, with my parents dead and my sister living away… I don't know, I try having friends around…" he looked at David, who for once was looking right back. "It always helps having someone you trust, who can listen."

Steve was silent and didn't seem like anyone else was willing to interfere, so Colby went on.

"So tell me, Steve, what did the FBI headquarters in LA did to you, that you decided to blow the building off? Or was it the government in general?"

"It's the government… I just saw an opportunity, and…" Steve seemed doubtful about his plan now.

"Yeah, well, let me just tell you, it was a bad opportunity and you didn't do a really good job" Colby said, as quietly and calmly, as possible.

"What do you mean? I was able to bypass the security, to get you here, without causing disturbance…"

"You want to know what's going on out there now?" Colby asked and not waiting for a reply went on. "The highly trained SWAT team is looking for a way in, and once they do, and believe me they will, you are as good as dead. I give you twenty minutes tops". Megan, Don and David exchanged looks. What was Granger doing? Why did he tell that to the criminal? Ex soldier or not, he was still a danger. They really hoped Colby knew what he was doing and that this negotiation won't end in them all getting killed.

"You know what? It doesn't fucking matter" the guy suddenly yelled, pointing the gun at Colby "It just means we have less time than I thought, say goodbye fellas, cause you won't be around any much longer!"

Professor Charlie Eppes stood helplessly outside the building, where his big brother Don and the others were trapped in. Just an hour ago they were bantering over a case and now it suddenly looked like it was the last time they've seen each other. It all felt so real, that it was even funny. Since Don started working for the FBI, it was not the first time his life was in danger, but not even on his worst day could Charlie imagine that Don could die in the office, from an explosion. But, as people say, you'll never know what fate has in store for you. Charlie suddenly remembered Amita and their dad, who have probably already gotten the news and were on their way, worrying. Charlie closed his eyes and just hoped it'd end sooner.

Ten minutes have passed since Colby traded his life for Charlie's, or maybe just a few seconds. Time is funny when your life is in danger, but nothing happened. Not a sound. Charlie had to remind himself to breath.

The bad guy, whom Colby called Steve, was still pointing the gun at Granger's head, but nothing else has changed. Maybe something in the agent's eyes has stopped him, or maybe it was something else entirely. The only thing that mattered was that they were still alive.

"Why aren't you shooting?" Colby asked "I thought you wanted to."

"Why are you so eager to die?" Steve answered the question with a question "Don't you have anything to live for?"

"Who said that I don't have anything to live for?" obviously they were good communicating with just questions, no answers. "Don't really like postponing stuff, you know. When something should happen it would happen, why wait for it?"

"That's what my sergeant used to say" Steve actually smiled at the memory.

"So did mine" Colby made a long pause "He also used to say, that people are valued not for their words, but for their actions…" he smiled. "I used to like that idea, made me even join the Bureau?"

"Really?"

"Naaah" Colby laughed "But it sounds better, than saying that I've become an agent, because it gave me a chance to get out of the war."

"There's nothing wrong in wanting to leave the nightmare behind."

"Nope, there isn't" Granger "Is this why you are here, Steve? What are you running from? What did the government do? What was so bad that it made you want to blow a whole building off?" Colby's voice was calm and steady. It seemed like they reached the culmination of their conversation. Steve's answer would show how this whole night would end.

"No one seems to care, you know?" Steve said resignedly, rubbing his eyes. "I just got tired of waiting for something to change, for someone to care that people are dying…I want to make a point, I thought that if a government building as important as the FBI headquarters goes down, someone would realize that things are not right."

"Huh, seems like you weren't paying attention in high school" Colby said pointing at the bomb around the guys waste. "This amount of explosives is not nearly enough to blow the whole building off…The best it can do, is blow the windows and kind of kill us all in the process…It's a shame that the professor isn't here, he would have told you" he looked at Don, Steve unintentionally doing the same.

"Well maybe you are right!" Steve snapped "I just want to make the headlines, the message would be received!"

"You think so?" Colby laughed "Sorry buddy, but you are wrong. See, the government would never admit to the press that they screwed up so much as to let an armed man in the center of the FBI headquarters. The most you'll get would be some yellow pages, and I still doubt that you'll make the front page there, cause I hear Paris Hilton has a new boyfriend and…" he trailed off. Steve seemed lost, so Colby used that, to keep talking.

"Can I tell you a story Steve? Oh and by the way, I believe we have around 6 minutes till the SWAT is here."

"A story? Why do you think I want to hear your stories?" Steve seemed agitated and as good as it was going so far, it could all just turn and end very badly.

"Well maybe you don't, but come on, what do you have to lose? You can always kill us, right?" Colby smirked.

"Yeah I guess…Ok, go on"

"So, last week I went to a funeral" Granger took a breath, it seem like suddenly he was no longer sure if he wanted to continue. Never the less, he did. "It was a friend of a friend of a friend kind of thing, I mean, no one I really knew or have ever heard of before, but still I went, because…I don't really know why I went, a friend asked me and I did."

" Yet, when it ended, I took a walk and went to the military section, you know, that part where they bury soldiers, cops, agents… The heroes section, as someone may call it" Colby laughed sadly. "I walked around graves for quite some time, just looking at names I've never heard of or names I knew. It's spooky how many graves are there. And it's scary how many names I did recognize. Kind of made me think I'm lucky to be alive, you know?"

"So, of all the graves I saw, there was one that I didn't see. Yet, I know the guy is dead, I was there when he died" Colby looked at Don quickly, then turned his eyes back to the floor. "It was a guy I served with, a really brave soldier, you may say."

"Did he die in Afghanistan?" Steve asked.

"No, not really…He was an everyday hero, you know, the one that saved hundreds of people back in Afghanistan, who even saved my life once." Colby closed his eyes. Everyone in the room, except Steve, knew that Colby was talking about Dwayne Carter.

"So what happened to him?" Steve seemed really into the story now, and Megan hoped that whatever Colby was about to tell, he'll tell it before SWAT decided to break in.

"After he left the army, he did some bad things…Bad choices, bad people, and…Anyways, let's just say that he was no longer a hero."

"So when he died he didn't get buried among other military men?" Steve asked.

"Nope, he didn't. It didn't matter how many good deeds he did, how many people, including myself, he saved. All people care about is the last thing you do." Now it looked like it was clear where Colby was going with this. Not a bad idea, Megan thought. Looked like Steve got it too, but before he could interrupt, Colby continued.

"Since I wasn't able to go to the funeral, I didn't know where he was buried. So, I didn't find his grave and I went to ask about it. Turned out it was just a regular grave, with the regular people, so to speak."Colby smiled "No flags or stuff like that. When I got there, I saw…"

"What?"

"I saw my friend's dad" Colby answered sadly. "You know, I actually thought about walking away. Just like that. But before I could make a move, he saw me, so I approached him."

It seemed like Granger had trouble finishing the story. It was obviously hard on him. Still, he went on. "I greeted him and…he did the strangest thing…He hugged me and said he's happy to see me, can you believe it?"

It looked like Granger was asking David that question. Something told David that he actually was. Still, he didn't get the chance to say anything. Colby just shook his head and went on.

"I mean, his son died, he died saving my life, and yet he was happy to see me…We talked for a while. He said, he knows his son was not perfect, yet he could never understand why he was buried there and not where he belonged, with the other soldiers. Anyway, you may be wondering why I'm telling you this, and believe me, I have a point."

"So what is it?" Steve asked

"You have a family, don't you? They live in a small town somewhere in Arizona? Nebraska? Montana?"

"Iowa actually, what's your point?"

"My point is, your parents must adore their hero son! I believe they walk proudly around, telling stories about how great you are and taking pleasure in the appreciative and even envious looks of the others. Do you REALLY want to take that away from them? Really?" Colby asked accusingly. "Because once you finish what you've started now, there's no coming back! Don't take that away from your parents!"

"I…I never thought about that." Steve said startled. "I just…it's too late already, what's done is done, there's no coming back"

"It's not true. Technically you haven't done anything yet. If you surrender now and let us go, with your record and a good lawyer, you'll get two years tops" Colby was speeding up now. It felt like their time was running out and he could almost feel SWAT behind the doors. "Listen, with a good word from an FBI agent, you'll be out less than a year and then," Colby smiled "You'll call the said FBI agent and we'll go out for a drink, swap stories and all that, what'd'ya say?"

Steve looked frantically around the room, unsure what to do. He looked at Colby, finally making a decision.

"You'll really do that?" His eyes were full of hope and despair at the same time; he looked more like a frightened young man, than like a terrorist now.

"Sure I will" Colby nodded reaching out to Steve. "Now please, give me the gun and let's get you unhooked from that thing, before…"

Suddenly there were noises and movements behind the doors.

"Come on Steve!" Colby pleaded

"Ok, Ok…" he gave Colby the gun and unhooked the bomb. "And it's Jason by the way, not Steve" he smiled.

"Nice to meet you Jason" Colby shook his hand and looked at the others. They all looked relaxed. Colby did it. It was over.

All of a sudden there was a loud noise and the door blew up. The room started feeling with a smoke.

"No one moves!" Someone shouted.

"Don't shoot!" Colby, Don and David yelled all together.

But it was too late. A singled gunshot made everyone freeze. When the smoke cleared Don, David, Charlie and Megan saw Jason standing looking startled at a bleeding FBI agent Colby Granger, lying on the floor.

"_Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength." Anonymous _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"_I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.__" Maya Angelou _

Life is a funny thing, thought professor Amita Ramanujan standing near the entrance of the FBI headquarters in Los Angeles, California, waiting for some news about what was going on in there. The day started just like any other day. She woke up in Charlie's house, had breakfast with him and Alan and went for work. Her students were smart and eager to learn, so she really enjoyed working at the university. Larry came back from the monastery to have lunch with Charlie and her, they talked work and life, and then Charlie said he'd go see how Don is doing, kissed her goodbye and left. There was nothing out of the ordinary and nothing indicated it may be the last time she saw him. That's why life is funny. No matter how smart you are, you could never know what the future holds for you.

Two hours ago, Amita got a call, saying there was "a situation" in the FBI office and her presence is requested. She tried calling Charlie, asking him what was going on, but he didn't pick up. It wasn't weird; Charlie got the habit to ignore his phone while he was working. Only when Amita got to the office and saw all of the officers and agents running around did she realize that something was going on. They told her that the security cameras picked up a potential threat to the agents, but there were yet no information about what this was all about.

She saw Alan, waiting impatiently nearby and she run to him. He hugged her, saying that it would be alright. They just had to wait.

Nothing happened at first. All Amita knew was that all of Don Eppes' team members, including Charles Eppes, were in the building, and so far there was no news about their health or condition. They just had to hope for the best.

Then, out of nowhere, Amita saw Colby, running from the parking lot, talking to someone on the phone. Well, technically he was more like yelling at someone on the phone.

Colby barely acknowledged Amita's presence. Looked like he was in the process of arguing with someone.

"Look, I know it's not right and it's out my competence and blah blah, but it's my team we are talking about! I know them, I know the way they would react and…" obviously whoever was on the phone with Colby interrupted him. Colby listened for a few seconds and then yelled. "Well I just want to make sure your people don't kill my friends! So screw procedure, I'm going in!"

With that he hung up and went into the building. Amita just prayed he could do what he wanted to and that she'd see Charlie and the others again.

Ten minutes after Colby went into the building, Amita and Alan saw Charlie, coming out, looking startled and scared, but alive. That was the only thing that mattered. He was alive.

Amita run to him and hugged him tight. He was mumbling something about Colby and Don and a bomb, but Amita couldn't understand anything. She turned around looking for the others, but no one else could be seen.

"Charlie, where's Donnie? What happened?" As glad as Alan was that Charlie was alright, he was very worried for his eldest son.

"In there…with the others…Colby" Charlie had obviously troubles breathing. "Colby traded his life for mine and there's a guy with a bomb and…"

Charlie was hyperventillating. Alan waved to one of the paramedics to come and give his son something to relax. That taken care of, they all stood there silently, waiting for some news.

Suddenly, a couple of things happened at the same time and it seemed like the long wait was over. Paramedics rushed into the building at the same time as agents started leaving it. The next moment Amita Megan and David running out of the building, as well as the paramedics, who carried someone into an ambulance. Finally, she saw Don, who rushed to the ambulance and got in, before it drove away. Only when the ambulance left did she realize that she still hasn't seen Colby leaving the building. What was going on?

"Megan, David, oh my God, are you alright?"Alan was standing near the two agents who were checked by the medics. "What happened? Where did Don go? Is he alright?"

"Yes, he's fine…" David was breathing heavily. "Don't worry, it's…" He started explaining but then obviously saw that Megan was done with the medics and was walking away fast and he followed her. "Come on, let's go, there's no time!"

"No time for what? David, Megan, wait! What happened?" Charlie yelled after them.

"It's Colby. Hospital. Come on, I'll explain on the way!"

Nurse Anne Harris rarely remembered patients' names. Truth to be told, she rarely remembered anything about patients at all. They came and went so quickly, that it was impossible to get personal. As her mentor told her numerous times when she first started at the hospital, it was even ill-advised to get personal with patients, because once you get attached to someone, treating him is hard, losing him is even harder. But still she remembered the young FBI agent that came to her care a few weeks ago. He almost died of a heart failure, because of drugs that were forced into his system. Nurse Harris didn't know what about this particular agent was so special, but she was happy when he left the hospital with a promise of a full recovery, and she was not happy at all when she recognized the same agent in the patient that was brought by the paramedics just half an hour after the beginning of her shift.

"Gun shot to the abdomen" one of the paramedics informed the doctor in charge. "He needs surgery now!"

Everything happens fast in the ER. At least here the TV show got it right. One second the patient is in the ambulance, the next he is already in surgery with people fighting for his life. Then, sadly, came the most complicated part – telling relatives and friends about what had happened to their loved ones. Nurse Harris really hoped she won't have to tell bad news to this agent's friends, because the waiting room was quickly filled with people and by the look on them, they all came to support the once again injured agent Granger. She took a deep breath and went to talk to them. She still needed some information for the paper work.

"Excuse me" Anne coughed politely. "You are here for the young man that was brought here just minutes ago, aren't you?"

"Yes! How is he?" a dark blond woman answered. Anne recognized her from before, but she couldn't remember her name.

"He is in surgery now, I'll tell you as soon as I have some news." She took a breath "Listen, I know it's hard, but I need someone to answer some questions and sign some paperwork."

"I'll do it" a fit African American man answered "My name is David Sinclair, I'm Colby's emergency contact, I believe I'm authorized to do it?"

"Sure…" nurse Harris looked at the documents in her hand. That was strange… "I'm sorry Mr. Sinclair, but you are no longer Mr. Granger's emergency contact"

"I'm not?" David looked genuinely surprised. He exchanged glances with the woman, both of them not understanding what was happening "There has to be a mistake, I've been Colby's emergency contact ever since he was assigned to be my partner."

"It's written here that he changed that a few weeks ago, when he was last checked out from here" Anne could swear agent Sinclair looked hurt.

"So who should you call now?" the woman asked?

"Me." A voice answered from behind their backs. "My name is Scott Silvestri, I'm a friend of Colby's, they called me from the ambulance. Could someone please tell me what the hell happened?"

Nurse Harris and the others turned around to see a 6ft tall, kind of tired, but very handsome African American man standing in front of her. Anne immediately recognized him as Colby's friend, who came to pick him up the last time he was here. Some of her colleagues were actually talking about him for days after that.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" David asked, protective anger in his voice.

"I told you, my name is Scott Silve…"

"I heard that!" David snapped. "I asked who are you?"

"David!" the woman squeezed her friends shoulder, silencing him with her eyes and then asked the newly arrived mister Silvestri "I'm sorry, It's been hard on all of us. I'm Megan Reeves. You are Colby's friend who came to pick him up when he checked out, aren't you?"

"Yes. Nice to meet you agent Reeves, Colby has told me many great things about you, I'm sorry that we meet in this circumstances, but could you please tell me what happened?"

"There was a hostage situation at the office" the other man who came with Megan and David joined the conversation. "I'm Don Eppes" he said shaking hands with Scott. "Colby got hurt in the process."

"At the office? You mean like at the FBI headquarters? How is that possible? I've seen your security, it's very complex!"

"It is, we are still figuring out how the guy managed to beat it and…" Don paused, suddenly realizing something "What do you mean you've seen it? You have visited the office?"

"Well yes, not your floor particularly, but still" Scott answered. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself properly, agent Scott Silvestri, CIA"

"CIA?" Megan asked incredulously. "How did you and Colby met?"

"We were in the army together" Scott said unwilling to elaborate more. "Listen, I'll tell you more about it later, could you please first tell me what happened?"

"We were leaving the office when we saw this young soldier, standing in the foyer, dressed as a janitor." Don started explaining. "He had a gun and a bomb and he obviously wasn't expecting to see anyone there. He panicked, then Colby tried talking him out of it?"

"Typical…" Scott shook his head. "Failed and got shot?"

"Well yes and no…" Megan said, averting Scott's eyes

"Meaning?"

"Meaning he didn't fail. The guy was ready to surrender…" She took a deep breath. "But then SWAT came in, there was a misunderstanding and…"

"You're telling me one of your agents shot Colby?" the devastated look at agent Silvestri's face was absolutely genuine.

"Yes it was a friendly fire, but it wasn't intentional" Don said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Colby jumped in front of the bullet, protecting the kid."

"Sounds like him…" Scott suddenly looked even more tired than when he first came in. He looked at nurse Harris and asked "I'm sorry, you were talking about some paperwork?"

"Yes," she said, glad that someone acknowledged her finally. "Please, come with me" and with that the two of them left, leaving Don, Megan and David waiting for news on Colby's condition.

"Any news?" Charlie asked as soon as he spotted his brother, Megan and Don in the waiting room.

"No" Don said, silently greeting their dad and Amita "We're just waiting."

"Donnie, are you all right?" Alan asked worried "They told us what happened."

"I'm fine dad, it's Colby we are worried about. It looked pretty bad in the ambulance"

"Colby is strong, he'll make it."

"We hope so" Megan said, sitting down. It was all so unreal. Despite being an FBI agent for such a long time, she was still unable to accept her friends getting hurt. She knew these were the odds of the job, but it still seemed unfair.

"We really do" David echoed Megan's words, sitting down too and closing his eyes, lost in memory.

"_Hey David!" Colby nudged him in the ribs, asking for his attention_

"_What is it, Granger? Don't you see, I'm working" David took his eyes from the papers in front of him and looked at his partner of two months. _

"_Sure you are" Colby just grinned. "Listen, may I ask you something?"_

"_Granger, man, are you like 5 or something? Of course you can!" David laughed "and if I don't like what you are asking, I simply won't answer you."_

"_Huh, thank you, that's, hmm, helpful." Colby smiled sheepishly and continued "I took my medical evaluation this morning and…"_

"_Oh and they suddenly discovered you're not mentally appropriate for this job?"David laughed "Hallelujah, it's a miracle!"_

"_Ha-ha, funny" Granger said, obviously not amused at all. "No smart ass, they asked me about whom to put as my emergency contact and…I was thinking, since we are working together now, would you mind, you know… if I put you?" David could swear Colby was kind of ashamed to ask that. Weird…Still he could have some fun with it._

"_Well why, my friend?" he made a fake surprise face "Are you sure we are already at that point in our relationship? I mean, I like you and all that, but…" Colby's face went from ashamed but hopeful to sad and disappointed in just a few seconds. That was fun._

"_I don't know if you'd respect me in the morning" David said completely serious, absolutely loving the moment the realization downed on Colby's face. "Man, Granger, you're so easy to mess with. Of course you could put me as your emergency contact. Why did you even ask? I mean, I didn't ask you, when I did the same thing last week" David winked at his partner and went back to work. A quiet "thank you" was all he got. Somehow it was more than enough. _

Since that day, for two years now, David Sinclair and Colby Granger were each other's emergency contacts. It may be a small thing for anyone else, but David knew the real meaning of it. This was the moment they went from being just partners to being friends. Getting to know that Colby changed his emergency contact showed David that he seriously messed up somewhere. The only thing he hoped right now was Colby getting better. He swore he'll change the things. He just needed Colby to be all right.

"_Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.__" __Johann Wolfgang von Goethe_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"_Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself... 'How did I get through all of that?__" Anonymous _

Seventeen minutes after agents Eppes, Sinclair and Reeves were joined in the ER by professors Eppes and Ramanujan as well as by Alan Eppes, they were all together waiting for news about the condition of Colby Granger, who has been shot earlier that evening. They didn't really speak, maybe because there was nothing to be said, or maybe because everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

All of a sudden, a young woman rushed into the ER, looked around and immediately went to the information desk. She was blond, in her late twenties, dressed casually, but obviously very stressed.

"Hello, I'm sorry," she said "I'm looking for Colby Granger, they said he was brought here and…"

"Just a second, lady" the woman from the desk answered, "let me just finish this call, and I'd be with you."

Don and the others were now looking at the woman. So she was also a friend of Colby's? Don approached her.

"Miss, my name is Don Eppes, I'm an agent with the FBI" he introduced himself to the woman "You are looking for agent Granger? May you tell me who's asking?"

"What?" the girl was obviously startled, she turned away quickly to look at Don. "Sorry…Yes sure, I'm Christina, Christina Granger, Colby's sister! Now please, somebody tell me what happened to my broth…" she didn't finish her sentence because she saw Scott Silvestri approaching them and she run towards him.

"Scott, oh my god, what happened" she cried, hugging the man.

"Calm down, Chris" he tried reassuring her "He's in surgery now, we just have to wait".

Both of them came to the others. Everybody was obviously surprised.

"I'm sorry, you said you are Colby's sister?" Megan asked.

"Yes, I…" she brushed the tears from her eyes. "Sorry about that, it's just that I haven't seen Colby in two years, haven't spoken to him in over four months, and I came by to surprise him, and then Scott called telling me to come to the hospital…" she was overwhelmed and kind of babbling. "Oh god, if something happens to him…"

"Ok, ok, calm down" Scott hugged her again, trying to calm her down "You know Granger, he'll pull through, he's strong, he'd be fine"

"Yes, I know" Chris said, and looked at Don again. "Listen, I'm sorry I reacted this way, I…"

"You don't have to apologize. But Scott is right, we have to calm down, right now there's nothing we can do to help."

"Ok" Chris looked around and faced the rest of Colby's friends. "I'm sorry we have to meet this way. I've heard so many great things about you guys and I really wanted to get to know you."

"Nice to meet you too" Megan said "I'm Megan Reeves, these are David, Charlie, Alan and Amita." She introduced the others.

"You all worked with my brother?" Christina said, shaking hands with Alan

"Well yes and no." Charlie answered "Amita and I work at CalSci…"

"Oh, professor Eppes, of course" Christina smiled despite herself. "I've heard many great things about you."

"Thank you" Charlie blushed "Though I'm sorry to tell you, up until today I didn't know Colby had a sister…"

"Typical"

"Weren't you close?" David asked. "Granger mentioned you to me a lot. I've got the impression that he adored you."

"That's really nice, thank you." Chris looked at him and smiled gently. "Truth is, we used to be very close. After our dad died, Colby became sort of a second dad to me, you know, he was only 14, I was 10, and yet he was the man of the family, so to speak…"

"What changed then?"

"The army…the war, it changed him more than he was ever willing to admit. He came back more…I don't know, grown up I guess" she laughed. "I used to be able to read him as an open book, now…Now I'm not so sure. Anyways, after that he joined the Bureau, I went to travel the world and…it just wasn't the same any more. I got back this morning and wanted to patch things up with him and…I just hope it's not too little too late."

Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away, hugging Scott again. After that, Christina Granger didn't say anything more. Neither did anyone else. Now all they had to do was wait. Wait and pray.

Seven hours and eleven minutes after Colby Granger was admitted to the hospital's ER, there was finally some information about his condition. Dr. Morgan came out of the surgery and was immediately greeted by Colby's sister and his friends, all of them eager to hear the news, hoping it was good. Dr Morgan always hated that part. 22 years since he was a doctor and yet he never got used to informing patient's relatives about the outcome of the operation. It didn't really matter if the said outcome was good or bad, his experience told him that no one was really the same after such an experience.

Dr Morgan drew a couple of breaths and pulled down his mask.

"Before I tell you anything, I was told that Mr. Granger's sister is here, so I'd prefer speaking to her."

"Yes, it's me" Chris said quickly "Please tell me doctor, how is my brother!"

"Miss Granger, your brother suffered a gunshot to the abdomen from a close range, the bullet did a lot of damage to his intestines and causes a severe internal bleeding…"

"Oh God…no…"

"He lost a lot of blood… we were able to stop the bleeding." The doctor tried reassuring her. "However, he is not out of danger right now, he's been in and out of consciousness for the last seven hours, he's very weak and right now his condition is what we would describe as critical."

"But he's going to be OK, right?" Charlie asked the doctor.

"We don't know that for sure. I can tell you now, though, that the next 12 hours are crucial. If he survives them, there's a good chance he'll pull through."

"IF he survives them? IF?" Chris screamed surprised and terrified.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger, there's nothing else we can do for him. Your brother is young and strong; however his record shows he recently suffered a drug intoxication, which significantly weakened his body…"

"What? I didn't know that?"

"I'll tell you about it later" Scott whispered in her ear. "It's not important now. Doctor, you say that we'd know if he's out of danger after the next 12 hours?"

"We won't know for sure, no. But his chances of a full recovery increase by the hour. There's as much as I can tell you know. I'm sorry I have to go" with that Dr. Morgan excused himself and left.

A couple of minutes later, they were joined by nurse Harris.

"Miss Granger, I wish I could tell you more good news, but unfortunately right now you won't be able to visit your brother. We do not allow visitors in the reanimation. But as soon as I have some news, I'll come talk to you"

"Thank you, Anne" Scott answered. Christina just nodded, unable to speak.

Don sat back and closed his eyes. How did the things get so bad? Why didn't he see it coming? It was his job to take care of his team, of his friends, and he failed. If he hadn't let Colby talk to the guy, if only he had interfered when he got a chance… It might have been different. He rubbed his head eyes tiredly.

"Hey Donnie" he heard his father's voice and opened his eyes.

"What?"

"I know what you are thinking and please stop it."

"Dad…"

"No, don't "dad" me. Just listen" Alan said firmly.

"None of what happened was your fault."

"With all due respect dad, you don't even know what happened."

"Yes I do" Alan answered. "They told me enough for me to know that you'd be blaming yourself. You had no control over the situation. You couldn't have known that Colby would jump in front of a suspect to protect him; you didn't pull the trigger either, so please just stop blaming yourself. It won't do any good to anyone."

"No dad, Granger did what all of us would have done, and I know that if there's someone to blame, it's the SWAT agent that shot him, but…"

"But what?"

"But I'm wondering, what if I hadn't told Colby to go? I hesitated, you know I did, and now I'm sure, more than ever, that I made the wrong decision. If I had only kept him on the team, we would probably not be there that evening, or we'd be upstairs, working, not saying goodbye, and…"

"And you could never know what could have happened!" Alan squeezed his son's hand. "Listen, I've told you this many times, I'll tell it to you again, stop asking yourself what if! There's nothing you could do now, to change the past, all you can do though, is change the future."

"Believe me, I know that dad." Don said firmly "First thing I'm going to do, when Granger wakes up, is ask him to stay on the team" he smiled, but then obviously thought of something else and added "If he wakes up…"

"There are no ifs, son. He's strong, he'd make it. He will." This time it was not sure who Alan was trying to reassure, his son or himself.

Agent David Sinclair felt like he was going to suffocate in that tiny waiting room, so he went outside. It was already early morning; obviously the time had its own pattern when you are troubled and waiting. David smiled at that thought. Interesting what professor Eppes would say to that. Something smart and complicated probably and Granger would certainly roll his eyes and poke fun of him.

"I didn't realize it was morning" David's chain of thoughts was interrupted by Christina's sudden appearance.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you" she said "I just… I couldn't stay there any longer and I had to come outside. There's so much grief and pain in the air there…"

"Yes" David simply agreed. Now he got the chance to really see Granger's sister and it was strange that he didn't notice how much she resembled her big brother. Not physically, but there was something in her eyes, that…

"David, you are staring at me" Chris said, smiling.

"I'm sorry, I just realized that you remind me of your brother, that's all"

"Well thank you, telling me that I look like a muscled hunk… that's something a girl always wants to hear" she said with a deadly serious face, and then laughed at David's confused one. "Sorry, I'm tired and considering the circumstances…I have to make myself laugh, if not, I'm afraid I'll burst into tears."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, I understand" David reassured her. "And I meant, there's something in your eyes, that reminds me of your brother, not in your looks."

"I know, you're not the first one who tells that" Chris nodded. "We were never able to figure out what exactly people see in our eyes. Scott calls it "something Grangery" she laughed again.

"You mentioned Scott…" David started, not sure how to ask what he was about to ask. "I know it's none of my business, but what is his deal?"

"What do you mean?" Christina's whole body language changed. She got somehow defensive and David felt like he touched a nerve.

"I… I don't know, it's just that today was the first time I've heard of the guy, and it turns out he and Granger are close, and…I don't I just want to know if I can trust him. He looks kind of strange and a little bit aggressive"

The answer obviously satisfied Chris because she relaxed and smiled again.

"I know he does, but believe me, if there's something I know about Scott Silvestri, is that he cares deeply about my brother. They met in Afghanistan, I don't know what exactly happened there, but they were really close. Rumor has it Colby saved Scott's life and since then Scott acts like a big brother to my big brother" she smirked at that. "I know he doesn't always deliver it the best way, but he's a great guy and he means well. Just give him a chance."

"Ok." Was all that David answered. So Scott owed Colby his life…For Colby's sake, David decided to give the guy a chance and get to know him. He was about to ask something else, but then Chris remembered something else.

"One thing about Scott, that you have to be aware of, though."

"What?"

"He really, really wants to make Colby go and work for the CIA?"

"What? Seriously?" David suddenly got defensive and protective again. "Can he do that?"

" I don't know the whole story, but obviously when they got pulled from the field, they both got the offer to chose between joining the Bureau or joining the Agency. You know the outcome." David nodded. "Since then, Scott keeps telling that he wants a fun partner, because all of his partners suck" Chris laughed.

"So he wants Granger to work with him because he's fun?" David asked incredulously.

"Yes, that's what he said" Chris answered and then added "I'm cold, I'm going back in" and with that she left David standing outside, thinking about everything that happened these last couple of months.

First, David found out that his partner and best friend was a traitor who sold his country. Next, that he was not actually a traitor, but a triple agent. Then he almost got killed by a poisonous drug cocktail. Afterwards, and David was the most ashamed about that part, he completely ignored Colby to the point that he pushed him towards leaving Los Angeles. Subsequently Colby got shot, trying to save their lives. And in addition to all that, it turned out Granger had a "guardian angel" that was eager to make him leave not only LA but the FBI in general. Just great. David wondered at which point exactly did he stop noticing things that happened around him. Or did he know Colby Granger at all?

David was still standing outside the ER, lost in his own world, when Scott Silvestri appeared near him, lighting up a cigarette and offering him one. David politely declined, because of all of the bad habits he got, smoking was not one of them.

The two men stood next to each other, not talking for a while, until the CIA agent finally broke the silence.

"This is ridiculous, you know?" he said "Just a couple of weeks ago I picked up Granger from this same hospital, and now, being here again…It should not be happening."

"Won't argue with you here" David agreed bitterly. "He's strong, he'd be alright. With so many great friends, he'd do just fine."

"What was that supposed to mean?" Scott asked startled, tossing away his cigarette and pulling out another.

"Nothing, I'm just tired"

"No, don't give me that, you think I haven't noticed the dirty looks you've been throwing me the whole time we were inside? If you have something to say, just say it to my face." He suddenly got aggressive too.

"It's just it's the first time I hear about you and now suddenly it turns out you are Granger's best friend or something." David realized how stupid that sounded, but he still couldn't help it. He had to get it out of his system. "But truth to be told, I just don't like you, that's all."

"You don't like me? You don't even know me!" Scott Silvestri, the bastard actually laughed at that. "Listen, David, you and Granger had some stuff going on between the two of you; I get it, but don't include me into this conflict of yours."

"You don't know anything about me" David snapped

"Exactly! Neither do you about me!" Scott smiled. "Listen, you don't like me, I get it, but I do believe we have something in common"

"Yeah, and what is it?"

"We both care for Granger; we both want him to get better, so let's just put aside our differences and for his sake, don't argue, OK?"

"Sure, fine, whatever." David replied, not proud of his behavior at all. Scott nodded and was about to go inside, but then changed his mind and went back to stand next to agent Sinclair.

"Listen, David. You are wrong…" he said but before David could start protesting, Scott made a sign, silencing him. "Please, let me finish. You said I don't know anything about you, but that's not true. I know a lot of things, because Colby talked about you, a lot. In fact you were the person he talked about the most. I even got jealous sometimes" Scott smiled and continued. "It was always "David this, David that…" I'm actually glad I finally met you, because at least now I know you exist and that you are not some imaginary friend of Granger's."

David didn't really know what to reply, so he just asked "What did he tell you about me?"

"I won't tell you that, because I believe Granger won't be too happy with me if I do…But to prove to you, that I'm not so much a bastard as you think I am, I would tell you this – Colby loves his job, he loves the FBI and he loves LA. There's just one thing that could make him quit." Scott looked David in the eyes "And that thing, agent Sinclair, is if someone, and by someone I mean you, made him believe you'd be happier with him gone. Think about it." With that said he turned away and walked back into the hospital.

"_For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.__" Ralph Waldo Emerson _


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"_Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.__" Dale Carnegie _

The early morning light found Charlie, Amita and Alan, pulling into their house driveway. They wanted to stay at the hospital, but Don insisted on them going home. There was nothing really they could do to help right now. Don also sent Megan home, promising he'd call as soon as he got any news. Sending David away, however, proved to be impossible, so Don didn't even tried that hard.

Time flies really slowly, when you look at the clock all the time. As much Don knew and he didn't need any scientific proof for it. It has been 10 hours since Colby's surgery and no more news after that. Don did realize though, that time wasn't really important here. The doctor may have said that they have to wait twelve hours, but it was merely an approximation. What mattered was how Colby's body would react. He just wished his friend was strong enough. It was not the first time Colby was shot. All of the agents had scars to remind them of times their lives were endangered. It was a part of the job. Colby knew what he was signing for, when he joined the FBI.

Sitting there and waiting, Don realized that the recent events didn't allow Colby to leave for DC. Maybe it was a sign for him to stay. Don smiled at that thought. He wasn't really a believer, when It at signs, but he believed in his own gut and right now his gut was telling him he made a mistake, when he decided to let Colby go. So he made a phone call to the director in the DC office. Turned out he was already informed about what happened. Still, Don decided to ask the director to postpone Colby's transfer, until Granger is out of the hospital or at least until Don got a chance to ask him to stay in LA. Surprisingly the director agreed.

Don yawned and looked around the small waiting room. David seemed to be dozing off, Colby's sister Christina was curled on a bench, with her head on Scott's knees, and Scott himself appeared to be just lost in his own thoughts. Don closed his eyes again. He had to open them just a few seconds later, though, because a nurse came towards them, and coughed politely, as to attract their attention.

"Are you here for Colby Granger?" she asked the four people who were sitting in the waiting room. As on cue, David, Scott and Chris all jumped up fast, no fatigue visible in their movements. "Yes!" all of them answered fast. Then Chris added "I'm his sister, please, tell us, how is he."

"Well, I have some good news for you Miss Granger" the nurse smiled. "Your brother is awake now and you can see him, I'll have someone escort you. Just you though, because he is weak and you won't have much time. Just try not to excite him."

Chris and the others exchanged joyful glances and Chris went with the nurse to see Colby. It seemed like this nightmare was finally over.

While Chris was with Colby, Don went out to make some phone calls in order to inform the others about Granger's condition. This left David and Scott alone. Despite the good news, the mood between them did not really improve and the tone was awkward, to say the least.

"You think I pushed Colby to leave LA?" David broke the silence first, asking the question that was bothering him the whole time, since they last spoke.

"Don't you think that?" Scott asked, but didn't leave David a chance to answer. It seemed like he was waiting for an opportunity to jump at David, because he added "And does it really matter what I think? As you said, you don't like me, so technically it should not matter what I think. What matters is what you think, so let me ask you this, agent Sinclair, do you think you are the reason Colby decided to take the DC job? Or are you just looking for some reassurance and a way to reduce the guilt you are feeling?"

"What?" David was not prepared for these questions. "You know what, forget that I asked anything." He turned away, indicating that the conversation was over.

"OK, sure."

However, a couple of seconds later, David changed his mind. True, he didn't like Scott, but somehow he had to know what this friend of Colby's meant and more specifically, what he knew.

"You are right" David admitted, "I know I pushed Granger away, and if I could change that, I would, but the truth is, anyone in my place would have reacted the same way. Even you."

"I thought we established you didn't know me" Scott said mockingly. "How could you know how I would have reacted?"

"Man, I'm really trying here!" David was obviously losing it. "Just, go with me here, Ok?"

"Sure, sorry, I know what you mean" Scott changed his tone. "Listen, I know you're pissed at Granger for not telling you he was undercover and yada yada, but come on, are you really pissed at him? Or you are pissed at yourself and you are projecting it on Granger?"

"You lost me" David was genuinely confused. "Why should I be pissed at myself? I did nothing wrong, I was completely honest with him, from the beginning till the end."

"Yeah Ok, whatever helps you sleep, man" the mocking tone was back. It just irritated David even more, so he didn't answer immediately.

"What is your problem with me, Silvestri?" David was getting defensive and aggressive at the same time. "What did I do to you?"

"You didn't do anything to me." Scott was right in David's face now. "But you have to know something about Granger and me."

"What?"

"I love that man as a brother, I wouldn't think twice before giving my life for him, and I wouldn't think twice before beating the daylight out of someone for his sake. And when I see some ambitious self centered jerk, as you, hurting my friend, just because he believed his pride or ego were hurt, I just can't help it! Every time I spoke to Granger these last two years, all I've heard about was David David David… And I was telling myself, "this David guy must be so cool" Scott snorted. "To tell you the truth, I'm disappointed in Granger's judgment; you are just a regular brat who somehow manages to see everyone else's mistakes, but his own!"

David was speechless. He did not see that coming. When he was just about to say something it turned out he did not had a chance anymore, though, because they were joined by Don. Both the FBI and the CIA agents sat down in their respective corners, as far away from each other, as possible. Ten minutes later, Chris came into the room, crying, but smiling.

"He's OK" she beamed, hugging Scott. He's sleeping now, but the nurse said we can come back in the afternoon, he is supposed to be awake.

"This is great news, Chris" Scott smiled at her and led her towards the door. "Come on Granger junior, I'll take you to our place, you need some rest."

They nodded to Don and David, and walked away. The two FBI agents took their jackets and went out too. They all needed rest, but the important part was that Colby was alright. Nothing else mattered.

Later the same day, Don, David and the others were back at the hospital. They were escorted to Colby's room. The nurse on duty told them he was awake and much to their relief, she said he felt better, so she allowed Don, David and Megan all came in to see him.

Megan was excited and happy to see her friend, but she was not prepared to see him so pale and sick looking. Colby opened his eyes and smiled weakly when he saw them.

"Hello soldier" Megan said gently, taking his hand in hers. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I have been shot in the abdomen" Colby answered and blinked a couple of times, trying to keep his eyes open.

"Funny" Megan chuckled. It wasn't really funny, but Granger being a smart ass meant that he was indeed feeling better. "You scared us back there. Thank god you are OK."

"She's right," Don joined the conversation. "I'm glad you are OK now, Colb."

David was the last one to approach. He uncertainly cleared his throat and said "Thank you, Granger…"

"For what?" Colby asked, looking up to meet David's eyes.

"For saving my life, man." David answered, suddenly having a sense of déjà vu. He kind of feared Colby's come back. This exact conversation played in front of his eyes, the last time, the roles were reversed.

"_Hey man" Colby said, making himself a coffee and trying to catch David's eyes. "I never got the chance to thank you"_

"_For what? David replied dryly, not bothering to look at Granger._

"_For saving my life, man."_

"_Just doing my job" was all that David saved._

"Just doing my job" was all that Colby said, before closing his eyes. David could swear he could hear his heart breaking. He really screwed up this time.

Don and Megan exchanged quick glances. Megan tried saying something, but was interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

"Hey big brother" Chris smiled gently and walked towards Colby's bed. Megan stood up quickly and let her sit next to Granger. After all, he needed his family the most right now. Chris mouthed "thank you" and sat down, taking Colby's hand into hers. "How are you? We were all very worried for you."

"I'm good, sis, just a little bit confused."

"Confused? About what?"

"Well, let's start with what are YOU doing here?"

"I wanted to surprise you, so I called Scott to track you down. Turned out it was easy, because you were living at his place" Chris smiled gently at her brother. "So I came here…But I don't have to tell you that I was the one surprised."

"Scott, always the good friend" Colby said mockingly, closing his eyes again.

"I am a good friend indeed, cowboy." All of the people in the room looked towards the door, only to see Scott Silvestri grinning at them. "Chris and I had this whole surprise thing planned for you, and of course you had to screw it all up, by getting yourself shot. Shame on you!" He laughed

"Shame on me" Colby smiled weakly. "I'm sorry I screwed your plans brother. I promise I'll ask you the next time I decided to get shot."

Don, Megan and David observed the banter between Colby, Chris and Scott and felt like they are at the wrong place right now. So they just excused themselves, leaving Granger with his friends. None of the three FBI agents spoke about it, but they knew that Colby Granger, who woke up this morning, was not the same one who said goodbye to them the day before. Something in his attitude was obviously different, and they didn't like it.

Don said goodbye to David and Megan and drove away. True, he felt tired, but the physical exhaustion was nothing compared to the emotional one. Everything that happened since the time they arrested Colby, a couple of months ago, till the events of these last days, left him drained. He didn't even realize where he was going, till he was already pulling into his brother's driveway. Don just signed and walked it. After all, this was his home too, maybe the only home he ever got to know.

Alan was sitting on the couch, reading. Charlie was nowhere to be seen and Don was secretly glad for it. The last thing he needed was his kid brother seeing him in such a state. Don smiled tiredly at his dad and collapsed into a chair, closing his eyes and praying for some silence. Alan obviously knew his eldest well enough, because he didn't say a word. A couple of minutes later, a cold beer appeared in front of Don.

"Good night son" Alan patted him on the shoulder. "Everything's going to be alright, I'm sure."

With that, he went upstairs, leaving Don to his own mind.

_Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. __~Shunryu Suzuki_


	7. Chapter 7

Notes : I'm really grateful for all of the awesome feedback I got. Thank you guys for reading and reviewing. You inspired me and I'll actually change the story a little bit, want to make it the way I intended at the beginning, but without the Big Bang deadline... I was running short and I had to give up on lots of ideas, but now I guess I have more time so I'll add a couple more chapters to the original story. Hope you guys enjoy them

Chapter 7

"_Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends." Anonymous _

The morning, following Colby's shooting and subsequent surgery, when he got downstairs from his bedroom, the first thing, Charlie saw, was his brother Don, sprawled on the couch, sound asleep. Charlie chuckled at the sight. Don was obviously so tired last night, he didn't even have the strength to get to his own room. Sighing, Charlie walked into the kitchen. Despite all of the FBI stuff, he still had his teaching to do.

Professor Eppes contemplated just going to work without breakfast, when the door from the garage opened, and he was greeted by Larry, who walked in.

"Hello Charles, sleep well?" his friend greeted him.

"I did, considering…" Charlie looked startled. "Wait, when did you get in? Weren't you supposed to be at the monastery?"  
"I was, but I couldn't sleep, so I came here, hope you don't mind, I want to use your bathtub" Larry smiled, a little bit uncomfortably.

"Of course I don't mind." Charlie laughed. "Just hope you keep it quiet, Don's sleeping on the couch and I don't want to wake him up."

"Yes I saw him. Did he have a hard night?"

"Well, yes! We all did" Charlie said and then realized that being away from the whole world, Larry probably didn't know about the events of the last day. "Wait, you haven't spoken to anyone, did you?"

"Well that depends on who do you imply by saying "anyone" and what the time line is, but judging by the tone of your question, you mean someone who you know too and not just anyone in general, so yes, my answer would be "no, I did not speak to anyone" Larry gave his typical complicated ambiguous kind of answer.

"There was a hostage situation, including Don, Colby, Megan, David and myself."

"Oh my, are you alright?" Larry asked incredulously

"I am, we all are" Charlie said, reassuring him. "Well, no, actually, Colby got shot in the process, but he is OK, at least for now there are no visible complications so he is expected to pull through."

"And I'm grateful for that. But listen, Charles, wasn't Colby supposed to leave for DC, at least that's what you told me the last time I asked."

"Yes, he was supposed to, it happened after he came in to say goodbye...He actually traded his life for mine, can you believe it?"

"I… I guess he did what had to be done and Colby Granger is a brave young man. This said, I'm entirely grateful that you are OK, Charles. How is everybody doing? And oh my god, how is Megan doing?"

"She is fine, Lawrence, but I promise I'll inform her it took you so long to inquire about her wellbeing"

"So now what?" Larry asked. "Would Colby still leave?"

"I don't know, I believe Don wants to keep him, but this decision is not his to make."

"It isn't indeed" both professors looked around only to see Don, standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey bro!" Charlie greeted his big brother cheerfully. "Sorry, did we wake you?"

"No, it's OK" Don cracked his neck and tried stretching a little. Listen, I'm going to take a quick shower and head to the hospital, want to talk to Granger as soon as possible."

"Ok, no problem. You think he would agree on staying?"

"I don't know, Chuck. After what happened, I really don't know."

"Why do I get the feeling that he is not talking only about the shooting?" Larry asked, looking at the door, which just closed after Don.

"I have the same feeling, but I really don't know…" Charlie said, sipping from his coffee. As much as he wanted to know what was going on in his brother's head, he would just have to wait and ask.

Don Eppes pulled into the hospital's parking lot. God he hated hospitals. The smell, the atmosphere, the vibes… everything spoke of pain and death. In Don's opinion, doctors, especially doctors in the emergency rooms, were as much heroes as all of the decorated law enforcements, maybe even more. Here, in the tiny, sterilized rooms, were the real battles for life. And Don hated it even more that he had gotten so used to being in this particular hospital that he didn't need directions to get there. He really hoped it was the last time he was visiting a friend here.

The nurse at the front desk informed Don that Colby was awake and alone, so agent Eppes thanked her and went to Granger's room. At least he would get a chance to talk to Colby now without being interrupted. Reaching his friend's room, Don drew a deep breath and walked in.

"Hey Colb" Don smiled at Granger. "How are you feeling?"

"Hello Don. I feel fine, well considering…" Colby smiled weakly in return, looking at his former boss. "I actually always thought it's a stupid question, how am I supposed to feel, I just got a surgery."

"Easy tiger," Don was confused by Colby's aggressiveness. "It's called good manners."

"I'm sorry" Colby's eyes softened and he smiled, this time genuinely. "It's just I hate it being here, and obviously I don't do a good job hiding that fact."

"Now, don't be so hard on yourself. You are doing just fine, never would have guessed that you don't enjoy being here." Don laughed gently, but then sat down and changed his expression to serious. "Listen, Colb… I know it's hard, but first of all, I want you to know, that I'm grateful. Grateful for you saving my life and the lives of the people I care about. I'm also grateful that you are OK."

"You're welcome." Colby said, interrupting him. "But really, I hate it when people thank me so much. Especially for me being OK, that was really not my job, you should thank the doctors."

"Oh believe me, I thanked them." Don assured him. "But please let me finish. As much as I am grateful, I am twice as sorry. Sorry for… well for everything, that happened."

"Don, it was none of your fault. You couldn't have known that someone would fire and you sure as hell didn't know that I'd jump in front of Jason. Hell, I didn't know that." Suddenly Colby remembered something and asked "Speaking of Jason, how is he? He survived, right? I meant every word I said, I would do everything I can in order to help him and protect him. He was just a scared young kid, he didn't know what he was doing, he…" Colby was definitely getting agitated.

"I know I know, calm down buddy" Don gently squeezed Granger's hand, calming him down. "Jason is OK and he would be, I promise, until you are out of here, I'll take care of his case."

"Thank you!"

"Don't mention it, but I ask you again, let me finish."

"Sure, sorry, go on."

"I said I'm sorry, and truth is, I'm most of all sorry for saying what I said before the whole Jason thing." Don took a breath, looking for the right words. "Listen, whatever happened with the Dwayne Carter case, the whole spy thing… it's history now, what matters for me, is that you are OK and you are a great agent, a great person and a great friend, and it would be a pleasure…and an honor, if you'd agreed to stay with the team."

Don said it all fast and then just waited for Granger to process all of the information. Colby remained silent for a couple of minutes, just looking at his hands and not saying anything. Then, he obviously made up his mind.

"Don… Thank you, it means a lot to me, working with you and the team, it means a lot to me, really." As good as it sounded; Don felt there was a but coming. "But… I can't. Thank you, but I can't."

"Why Colby? Why not? I know you wanted to stay and I'm sorry I didn't realize I want you to stay. But sure you can. You love it here, and you have friends here, and even your sister is here now, so…"

"Don it's not, that, please, just… for old times' sake, just accept my wish. It's final, I'm leaving." Colby said firmly.

"Granger, I accept and value your opinion, you know I do, but please just give me one good reason, why you should leave LA and go to DC."

"No Don, you didn't get me right. I am not leaving LA. I'm leaving the FBI."

Of all the things Don Eppes expected to hear, this was not one of them. What the hell?

"_In no direction that we turn do we find ease or comfort. If we are honest and if we have the will to win we find only danger, hard work and iron resolution.__"__Wendell L. Willkie _


	8. Chapter 8

Notes : Sorry for the delay guys and thank you so much for reading and commenting. And a very special "thank you" to the-vampire-act for her awesome beta work.

Chapter 8

_"Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted, it must be changed. If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted." Anonymous_

Don sat at his desk in the office, trying to figure out his next moves. The trip to the hospital did not end the way he expected it. Truth to be told, it was as far from what he expected as it could possibly be. He was prepared to fight with Colby about taking the job in DC-he was even prepared to ask the director not to send Granger away-but he was not prepared for Colby's decision to leave the bureau. Don was still processing the information he had received when Megan and David walked in and sat next to him. He told them about what happened. Both agents were as surprised as he was.

"Come on, he could not be serious." she said. "We know Granger- he loves his job. What could have possibly changed?"

"I know what!" David said furiously. "Chris told me yesterday that it was up and high in Scott Silvestri's agenda to get Granger work for the CIA!"

"What?" Both Don and Megan looked at him disbelievingly. "He cannot possibly be serious!" Megan added. "The whole transfer thing is difficult and complicated, and often impossible. Different agencies, different jurisdictions, different rules… it can take months, if ever!"

"Yes, but there is the whole triple agent story…" Don added thoughtfully. "I'm just saying, in Colby's case it is not impossible…But Granger did not mention anything about going to work for the Agency. All he said was he was leaving the Bureau."

"Maybe he didn't want you to know?" Megan asked. "We all saw him yesterday; he was…different."

"Yes, but he must know I'd know eventually. Especially if he stays in LA…No, it cannot be that simple."

"Or maybe you don't want to believe it's that simple?" Megan shook her head. "I don't know guys;after all, Granger is a grown man, capable of making his own decisions, and even though I don't like it, there's nothing we can do about it."

"So what;we should just let him go?" David asked incredulously.

"What other choice do we have, David? No really, I'd love to hear you suggest something, especially since you were the one who just two days ago acted like you can't stand Colby." Megan looked at her friend accusingly.

Don saw where this was going, so he hurried up to interfere before the only two remaining members of his team jumped at each other's throats.

"Guys, guys; that's enough!" he stepped between Megan and David. "Listen, I know we are all tired and shaken by what has happened, but I agree; we should just let Colby do what he wants to and hope he makes the right decision."

"So if he wants to leave, you will let him?" David asked

"If that's his decision, then yes, I will." Don said firmly. "Don't get me wrong, I'll do whatever it takes to make him stay, but if the FBI is no longer what he wants... There's nothing I can do about it. It's not my call to make."

"Fine!" David snapped back. "But don't expect me to sit here and do nothing about it!"

With that David stormed out of the office, successfully interrupting Megan, who was just about to say something. So she just clapped her hands helplessly and stormed out of the office too.

"Just great..." Don muttered under his nose wandering how did he let the things go so wrong.

Professor Charles Eppes had just finished grading papers and was about to call it a day when Amita walked in the office.

"Hey Charlie, you busy?" she asked him cautiously.

"No, of course not." He smiled and stood up to kiss her. "I was just about to go look for you,actually. Do you want to go grab something to eat? I'm starving…"

"I do, but Charlie, don't you think there's something else you should do today?"

"Ummm…" Charlie scratched his head absently, trying to remember what he had forgotten. "I'm sorry, do I have another class? Honestly, I'm turning into Larry; that scares me…"

"No, don't worry, it's not that." Amita interrupted his blabbering. "I was thinking that you still haven't gone to the hospital to see Colby; don't you think you should go?"

"Oh…"Charlie realized that she was right. Even though he planned on going to the hospital, he had totally forgotten about it. "Yes, you are absolutely right! I know I should go. I want to thank Colby, and also...I have to go, I'm sorry, I'll call you later."

Charlie quickly kissed Amita and stormed out of the office. She just smiled, shook her head and started tiding up her boyfriend's office. She has gotten so used to Charlie leaving mid-conversation that it didn't irritate her anymore. If anything, she found it endearing. She loved him not despite his annoying habits, but actually for them. And even though Charlie had apparently blocked the last couple of days and all that had happened, Amita realized how close she had come to losing him. That's why she felt that thanking Colby was the least that should be done.

Only half an hour after he left the CalSci, Charlie was already pulling into the hospital's parkinglot. He knew the odds for the traffic to be so light this time of the day, that's why he felt like he had some luck today. And Amita was right. It wasn't right that he hadn't gone to see Colby. After all, he owed him his life and probably the life of his brother.

Musing over that, Charlie approached Colby's hospital room and gently knocked on the door.

"Come in!" A soft female voice answered; Charlie did as he was told.

A very beautiful woman was sitting next to Colby, holding his hand and smiling.

"Hello, professor, I was wandering if I'd see you today." Colby said smiling.

"Hi," Charlie smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier, I got caught in some stuff and…"

"Don't apologize." Colby interrupted him. "I know that it's quite easy for you to get distracted."

"And it's quite easy for you to be rude!" The woman next to Colby said and stood up and offered her hand to Charlie. "I believe we haven't met. I'm Violet-Violet Angell."

"Charlie Eppes, nice to meet you." Charlie introduced himself, shaking Violet's hand. And looking at Colby. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, I'll wait outside…"

"No, don't worry, I was just leaving." Violet said. "I'll see you tomorrow, handsome; get some rest." She kissed Colby's forehead, smiled at Charlie, and left.

"So, to what do I own the honor?" Colby asked, but Charlie didn't answer. He was too busy looking at the door that just closed after Violet. "Charlie? Come on man, snap out of it. I know she's hot." Colby laughed winking at professor Eppes.

"No, I wasn't, I didn't…" Charlie said nervously.

"Oh don't worry, she gets that a lot." Colby reassured him. "So, what bring you here, professor?"

"Well," Charlie began. "I wanted to see how you are doing and to personally thank you for saving my life."

"Don't mention it. You would have done the same thing for me"

"Go face to face with an armed villain? You are overestimating me." Charlie laughed.

"Yeah, OK, maybe that, but you did save my life a few weeks ago, so I believe we are even." Colby said and then continued more seriously. "Really, Charlie, I didn't get a chance to thank you. You don't know how much that meant to me. The only thought that kept me going there was that you and Don and the others were looking for me. I'm really glad you didn't disappoint me, professor."

Charlie jut nodded, not knowing what to say. He wandered how the conversation had suddenly became about Colby thanking him and not the other way around.

"Look, Colby, you have to know that no matter what you have done or what we thought you have done, we always wanted to believe you were innocent."

"No, I'm serious!" Charlie protested, because Colby's doubtful look told him the agent didn't believe him. "You should have seen Don, he was devastated! He kept looking for something to prove him wrong and show that you are innocent…"

"And Megan! Oh my, when she came back from her assignment at the DOJ, she was so shaken… She went over the reports dozens of times, made us tell her again and again what happ…"

"Charlie!" Colby interrupted him. "You don't have to do it. I can pretty much guess how anyone has reacted, if anything it proves I've done a good job." He said smugly. "I had to convince you guys. I don't say I liked it, but I'd do it again if I have to. It was an important job. Yes, I wish I've never had to do it, but I am not sorry I did what I have done."

Charlie wasn't sure what he had to do next, so he just smiled and started telling some statistics about working undercover. Colby closed his eyes and listened to Charlie's monologue for a few minutes before finally saying something.

"Charlie, listen, don't get me wrong, but I'm kind of tired, so if there's nothing else, I'd really like to get some shut eye, before the nurse comes and starts poking me with needles again." He intended it as a joke, but it came out more bitter than he liked.

"Ah sure, sure, I'm sorry." Charlie immediately jumped to his feet. "I'll see you soon, OK?" with that he started leaving but then suddenly remembered that there was more he wanted to say so he turned around.

"Umm, Colby, I know it's none of my business, but I would really like to continue working with you."

"What?" Colby asked, not sure if he'd heard him right.

"I said I'd really like to continue working with you."Charlie repeated. "I know Don wants you to stay on the team and I haven't spoken to anyone else yet, but I'm pretty sure David and Megan feel the same way too. So please, if you have a chance, stay here, don't go to DC."

Colby coughed nervously. "I appreciate the thought professor, but I believe you are misinformed. I am not going to DC anymore."

"You are not! That's great!" Charlie beamed

"I'm staying here," Colby affirmed, "but I'm leaving the FBI. As soon as I get out of here, I'll send in my resignation. I'm sorry. Don already knows." he added.

"But…why? I know for fact you love your job;why would you suddenly quit it?"

"I don't expect you to understand…" Colby said, looking down.

"Of course I can understand!" Charlie said uncharacteristically loud. "Don't you think I've always liked working in CalSci?"

"What are you talking about?" Colby asked.

"Let's just say that being a genius-" he made air quotes, indicating that he didn't like referring to himself that way, "-being a genius is not always fun. People judge you and expect certain things of you, and when you don't act the way they want you to, they get disappointed. But I believe that if you like something, you should stick with it. It may not be easy, but it's worth it." Charlie concluded.

"Oh my, professor, I never knew you could give a pep talk or motivational speech,." Colby laughed humorlessly. "Thank you, really, but truth is, after everything that happened, I'm questioning some of my choices."

"Such as...?"

"Such as working for the Law Enforcement, for starters."

"Oh…well, I can't advise you on that one." Charlie said.

"I don't expect you to. But once again, thank you for... well everything."

"You are welcome." Charlie nodded. " Just…if you want to talk to someone, and even though I know I probably won't be your first choice…, still, you have my number."

"Thank you, professor. It really means a lot to me."

"Get some rest." Charlie said and closed the door behind his back, leaving Colby alone.

The conversation didn't go the way he thought it would and he also couldn't get rid of that feeling, that something was wrong, that something bad was about to happen. Charlie just shook his head. Everything was going to be alright. Or at least he wanted to believe it.

_"If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction" -Dietrich Bonhoeffer_


	9. Chapter 9

Notes: Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think. Thanks again to the-vampire-act for the beta work.

Chapter 9

**'' A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn.'' ~Author Unknown**

"So, it's official,' said Special Agent Don Eppes, angrily throwing a file on his desk.

"What is?" asked Megan Reeves, although she already knew the answer.

"Colby Granger is no longer working for the FBI. The director signed his resignation this morning."

"So that's it?" David couldn't believe what he was hearing. Six weeks had passed since Colby was shot, and obviously, he did what he promised Charlie he would – as soon as he left the hospital, he resigned from the FBI. No one was able to make him change his mind. David himself had tried but failed every time.

_"What are you doing here?" Colby asked, not even bothering to open his eyes. It stopped surprising David long ago how his partner managed to sense his presence even when he wasn't looking at him._

_"I stopped by to see how you are doing." David told the truth. "Wanted to make sure no one tries to feed you salads; I know how you hate anything vegetable-related."_

_"I'm fine, thank you." David's attempt for a light banter was ignored. "Not that I don't appreciate the effort, but don't you have anything better to do? Catch a criminal? Do a report? Complain about me to whoever is willing to listen?"_

_"Granger…Listen, how many times do I have to apologize? I was wrong treating you the way I did, and I really want us to start over."_

_"You don't have to apologize David. You've done nothing wrong. I would have probably acted the same way, if the roles were reversed."_

_No, he wouldn't have, and they both knew it. Somehow Granger was always willing to compromise and see the better side of everyone. Always- but not this time. Now it seemed like he had absolutely no intention of starting over._

_In a desperate attempt to patch up things with Granger, David had even called his sister and asked her for help, but even though she was willing, there wasn't much she could do. Yet she promised to put a good word for David and call him if she thought of something. This was two weeks ago. Obviously, she failed, because Colby resigned. _

"Yes, that's it. I don't like it, but we can't do anything. Let's just be thankful that Granger is alive and move on. After all, we have work to do." Don said, doing his best to be a good leader. Despite everything, the team always should come first.

"Do you know if he had applied to the CIA?" Megan asked somewhat bitterly.

"I don't know…And I'm not sure if we'll ever know; they don't share that kind of information." Don replied absently. "Is he still living with that Scott guy?"

"No, the last time I spoke to him, he said he'll be moving out. Didn't say where though…"Megan said, mentally kicking herself for not asking.

"Well, I guess that settles it." Don concluded. "Unless Colby wants it, we won't be seeing him around. Case closed. Now, I don't like it, but we have to move on."

"Does this mean that Liz is staying for good?" Megan asked, not sure how she felt about it. She liked Liz well enough, she was a very good agent, but she was no Colby Granger. Somehow that was a bad thing.

"Probably… yes." Don nodded. "There are some technicalities that had to be done, but it all will be official by the end of next week."

"Way to go Don!" David applauded mockingly. "The second Granger is gone you go and put your girlfriend at his spot. Bravo! Makes me wonder if you even tried to keep Granger on the team!'

"David…" Megan tried warning her friend, but it was already too late.

"David, that's enough!" Don jumped to his feet and yelled, causing all of the agents in the office to stop talking and look at them. Don didn't seem to notice. "I had enough of your mood swings and your arrogance!"

"Don…" Megan started, but Don just waved her off.

"You have to finally make up your mind about what you want in this life and from this job. You are one of the best agents I know, but you won't make it here if you don't stop your emotions getting in the way of your judgment!"

"My emotions?" David snapped back. "I'm not the one who is replacing a great agent with the woman I'm sleeping wi…"

David didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because Don's fist successfully connected with his jaw. Megan wasn't sure who was more surprised by this outcome – the rest of the agents in the office, David or Don himself. All she saw was the blood dripping from David's split lip and Don rubbing his hand, which apparently hurt more than he anticipated.

"Guys, that's enough!" Megan yelled, jumping between the two male agents. "Shut up, both of you! David , I understand that you are hurt and that you want to get Granger back here, but it was not Don's call to make. It was Granger's decision, and we must accept it. No one is trying to replace him, but we do need another agent on the team, and Liz is the best option; her being Don's girlfriend has nothing to do with it. And Don," she turned her head to look at Don, who still had a look of shock on his face, "sticking up for Liz is a good thing- if we were in a bar! Throwing punches in the FBI headquarters is extremely unprofessional, not to mention stupid and childish. So if you to play alpha males, have some more testosterone to waste – do it outside the office or we might all lose our jobs."

With that, Megan stormed out of the office, closely followed by David, who didn't even bother looking at his boss.

"Great…" Don muttered, looking around. "The show is over; get back to your jobs." he said to the other agents; then he grabbed his jacket and went outside. This was going to be a long year.

"Is this seat taken?" asked a soft, strangely familiar female voice, making David look up.

He never truly understood the meaning of the expression "rock bottom" before, but now, after having a fine imprint of Don's fist on his chin, he could definitely say that he had indeed hit the said "rock bottom". How the things have gone so wrong was beyond his comprehension.

Just in a day he had lost the respect of his boss, Megan and possibly everyone else at the FBI. Not to mention that he had destroyed all of his chances of ever getting a promotion. And why? Because of his pride. His pride that had made him unable to forgive and subsequently push his best friend away. His pride that was so hurt that it had clouded his judgment and made him cold hearted and blind. Yes, that was definitely rock bottom.

So, after realizing all that, David had done what every relatively smart male would have done in his shoes – he went out to get totally smashed in a crowded bar.

Twenty minutes and three drinks after David had entered the bar, his self loathing was interrupted by the gentled female voice, asking him if the seat next to him was taken. In any other given situation, David would have at least entertained the idea of flirting with the owner of such a nice voice, but given the circumstances, he wanted nothing more than to be left alone. That was what he was about to ask when he looked up, but stopped mid-sentence because he saw familiar green eyes "smiling" gently at him.

"So is it taken or not?" Chris Granger asked again with a soft smile on her lips.

"Ummmm."

"Ok, my huge experience with half drunken FBI agents tells me that means "no", so I'm going to sit down." Chris said, sitting down and ordering herself a beer. David couldn't help but notice that it was the same brand of beer her brother used to order every time they went for a drink.

"So, is there a story behind your redecorated face, or will you just go with "I fell" kind of crap?" Chris asked.

"Ummm…" David's brain was apparently unwilling to cooperate. "I'm sorry Chris, it's nice to see you, but I believe I'm not a good company tonight."

"No worries." Colby's little sister saluted him with her drink before taking a sip. "I'm not here to look for a company anyways."

"Then why are you here? You don't look like the type of person that goes out for a drink on her own…"

"Well neither do you, Agent Sinclair, but here you are."

"I have an excuse, though." David said sadly. "Let's say I'm celebrating."

"Really? What?"

"Possibly my last day as an FBI Agent. " David answered, finishing his drink and ordering another. "I might get fired tomorrow."

"Auch. Why?" Chris asked, but then a thought crossed her mind. "Does your "make up" have anything to do with it?"

"Yup!" David said way too cheerfully. "I offended Don's girlfriend, who is by the way an excellent agent, and he showed me how he felt about it." He indicated his bruised chin to show Chris what he meant. "So after the show we put in the office today, I won't be surprised if I get fired tomorrow."

"Oh come on! Of all the cool things Colby has told me about your boss, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would go firing people out of personal motives."

"I don't know…Look, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Ok, what do you want to talk about?" Chris asked ,but before David got a chance to answer, she continued. "Oh, I know! I can tell you about how my brother has been doing, because it seems like even though you are dying to ask, you won't do it."

David didn't even try to deny it. The truth was he really wanted to know how Granger was doing. "How is he?"

"Fine, I guess…Well considering-" Chris made a circle near her abdomen, indicting the place where Colby was shot. "Naah, he's good, at least physically."

"Isn't he happy?" David hated how hopeful his voice sounded.

"I don't know…He seems more relaxed than before, but… he is quiet and…I don't know, it scares me sometimes."

"What does?"

"Well, I haven't seen him smile even once since I came here. And this is not normal; if anything, my brother knows how to smile and have fun."

"Yeah, he does…" David nodded, suddenly remembering the jokes Granger used to tell him and the pranks he used to pull on him. Some of them were dull, some were corny or sassy, but they always made him laugh.

"Hey Chris?" David asked after a long pause. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything."

"Do you think your brother would ever forgive me?" There was so much hope and fear in David's eyes that Chris wasn't sure how to answer. But she decided that she owed him the truth.

"Honestly? No-"she saw the moment that answer downed on David so she cursed herself for her choice of words. "I mean, he won't forgive you, because he is not mad at you or anything. You have to understand my brother, David. He lives by his own rules, and these rules often depend on his emotions. Sure, he was hurt, but…He'll get over it" She smiled before continuing.

"The real question here, David, is about you. So tell me, David. Do you think you could ever forgive yourself?"

David looked into Christina's eyes for a long moment, then turned his head away, without giving an answer. These eyes reminded him too much of her brother so he just couldn't look at her any longer.

"Come on, David." Chris laid a hand on his shoulder squeezing gently. "Let's go, I'll give you a ride home."

**"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill**


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes : **Thank you for reading and for the nice feedback. For those of you who asked me – I did write this story for the Big Bang challenge and published it on my LJ, but there was a deadline for the challenge, so I had no time to finish the story the way I wanted to. Now I have time so I'm adding a few more chapters. Hope you like them. Also once again a huge thank you to the-vampire-act for being such an awesome beta

Chapter 10

**"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." Anonymous**

"So-"professor Charles Eppes made a dramatic pause before going for the punch line and delivering the key part of his 5 minute speech "-if my calculations are right, and I believe they are, the deal will happen tonight at midnight."

"Great, thanks Charlie." Don Eppes said clapping his brother on the shoulder. No one even thought about questioning his calculations. "I'll call SWAT and tell them to meet us there. Let's try and do this thing quickly and as quietly as possible. And guys…"Don looked around the room catching everyone's eyes. "Great job. Now let's finish what we've started and I promise you we'll get the weekend off."

Everyone nodded and went on to prepare for what was about to come. Don went to the bathroom and washed his face with cold water.

The case was pretty intense. They were tracking this particular gang for almost a month, and now it seemed like they've finally got a break. Don stared at his reflection in the mirror, hating how tired he looked, which was probably not as tired as he felt, though.

It had been five months since Colby Granger left the FBI, and there was no indication that things were looking up. Liz still felt out of place, and she recently admitted she regretted leaving Narcotics; Megan tried being polite with everyone, but Don sensed she was not too happy with the situation either. David was a different case all together. He was the perfect professional, a poster boy for a good FBI agent ; he obeyed every order he got and never argued; he was never late and always did his paper work right on time. But he never talked unless he was asked something, and he never complained or made remarks.

Needless to say, Don had no idea what to do about his team.

"Hey Don, are you ready?" Megan's question interrupted Don's chain of thoughts as she knocked on the door. "We have to go."

"Yes Megan, just a second." Don quickly passed a wet hand through his hair, rubbed his eyes, and went out. After all, his team needed a leader right now ,and he was determined to do his job.

"We go in 3 – 2 – 1… GO! "Don shouted motioning to the SWAT agents to go inside.

Charlie's math had shown that the meeting would happen here, and as soon as the surveillance had shown the suspects entering the building, the SWAT was ready to go inside. Now they had received an audio confirmation that the deal was happening, so they needed no more proof. They could go in and arrest the suspects and charge them for possession and traffic of drugs and weapons.

"FBI, no one moves!" Megan, Liz, Don and David yelled together, bursting into the room. One of the criminals decided to shoot, but he was immediately shot by one of the SWAT agents. After that, everything went down quickly. The suspects were arrested and the evidence was being processed. It seemed like for a change there would be no complications.

"What the hell are you doing? I want to speak with the agent in charge, NOW!" as to contradict Don's musings a firm male voice yelled just outside the van where Don's team was recuperating. There was something oddly familiar about that voice but Don just couldn't quite grasp what. He sighed and went out to see what was going on.

"I'm the agent in charge, may I hel-" he stopped mid sentence suddenly realizing why the voice sounded so familiar. It was agent Scott Silvestri, Colby's friend from the hospital. "Agent Silvestri?"

"Oh great, Don Eppes himself." Scott said, and Don could swear he sounded agitated and quite irritated. "I'm sorry I have to do this, but agent Eppes, do you have any idea what you and your team have just done?"

"Arrested some criminals?" David supplied suddenly emerging from behind Scott's back, causing him to turn around quickly. "What is your problem, agent Silvestri?

"Agent Sinclair, I have no time to engage in your word battles," Scott formally brushed David off and turned his attention back to Don. "Agent Eppes, you and your team just sabotaged 11 months of my team's work!"

"What, the CIA was also chasing these guys?" Megan, who was following the exchange from behind Don's back, asked.

"Yes, agent Reeves!"

"But why? Drugs and weapons are not exactly a priority for the agency…"

"No, but counterfeit money is!" Scott said while angrily pacing back and forth, rubbing his temple. Everyone looked at him in disbelief.

"Counterfeit money?" Don asked finally. "We didn't find any."

"Of course you didn't. That's why we've waited so long to arrest them. We have no solid proof…Guess we'll never will, thanks to you." He finished accusingly.

"Listen, no one warned us that you guys were on to this gang. If I knew, I never would have ordered the ambush…" Don said apologetically.

"I know, we kept it below the radar…I'm sorry for the outburst." Scott apologized. "It just sucks when you see your hard work going to a waste."

"Scott, may I have a word with you?" a female agent approached them, getting everyone's attention. If Charlie was there he would have recognized her as Colby's visitor from the day he went to see him in the hospital. But Charlie was not there, so Violet Angell introduced herself ,and much to David's surprise, told them she was Scott's partner.

"Wait, so you are not Granger's partner?" David asked, unable to hide his surprise.

"Me? No." Scott seemed genuinely surprised as well. Then she continued mockingly. "Angell here on the other hand…"

"Shut up, Scott!" Violet slapped him on the shoulder, then continued more seriously. "I do have to speak with you."

"Ok, lead the way partner." he said; then turning to Don's team, "I would really love to say I was glad to see you, but considering the circumstances… well, I'm still glad. Have a good night everyone."

"Was this Colby's friend that you've mentioned?" Liz asked as soon as Agents Angell and Silvestri left.

"Yes." Don said, taking his vest off. "That reminds me, if Colby is not working with Scott, then what is he doing?"

"Yes, and was I the only one, or was there more to that comment about him not being the one who is Granger's partner?" Megan asked.

"It looks that way." David said. "I think I'm going to call Chris- see if I can get some information."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Megan asked cautiously.

"Yes I am." David answered and everyone could see a strange determination in his eyes.

"Okay, let us know as soon as you know something. I would really love to see Granger again; I kind of miss him and his stupid sense of humor." Liz asked.

The rest of the team might have seen a determination in David's eyes, but as soon as he got home and caught a few hours of shut-eye, that determination started to fade, and he began having doubts about the whole idea. But his curiosity took over his fears so he made the call.

It took a few moments before Chris Granger picked up the phone.

"Hello?" David heard a familiar cheerful voice.

"Chris? Listen, I have to ask you something and…" David started talking uncharacteristically fast.

"Hold on." Chris interrupted him. "Who is this?"

"Chris, it's me, David. David Sinclair."

"I know who you are." She laughed. "I just thought it would be nice to start the conversation the regular way. So, let's do it again – hello."

"Hi" David laughed but went on with her strange way of communicating. "Chris, it's David."

"Hey David, long time no see; how are you?"

"I'm fine, how are you?"

"Oh, just great. Is there a particular reason for you to call me, or you just want to see how I am doing?"

"Actually there is. I want to ask you something."

"Yes I will!"

"Sorry? You will what?" David was kind of lost.

"Go out and grab a dinner with you this evening."

"Umm, that's not why I'm calling you…not that I don't want to do it, but…"

"Yeah, yeah" David could almost picture her smile. "But I'm starving, and there's no way I'm talking to you about my brother on an empty stomach, so the least you can do is feed me some food while I'm giving you information on my only living sibling." She concluded

"Ok, that seems fair." David agreed. "I'll pick you up in an hour?"

"Great, I knew you'd understand."

With that she hung up, leaving David extremely amused. Getting information on Granger could wait a few more hours. He had more important stuff to do now.

**"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise." Robert Fritz**


	11. Chapter 11

Notes : thanks to the-vampire-act for the quick and awesome beta work. And thank you to all of you for reading and reviewing.

Chapter 11

"**I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you****"****Friedrich Nietzsche quotes**

"And so we went in and you were right, Chuck; the deal happened exactly where you predicted it would. It was pretty uneventful, at least at first."

Don and Liz were having lunch at Charlie's place, and Charlie and Amita were eager to know how the case they both worked on ended.

"What do you mean, 'at first'?" Amita asked curiously.

"Well, do you remember Colby's friend from the hospital, Scott?" Charlie and Amita both nodded. "He showed up, started yelling around, said his team was tracking down this gang for eleven months and apparently we ruined their chances to get th?se guys on a suspicion of counterfeit money…"

Don was still explaining something about Scott, but then he realized that both his brother and Amita had funny looks on their faces so he asked.

"What?"

"Umm Don…?" Charlie started cautiously. "Didn't Scott tell us that he works for the CIA?"

"Yes…"Don answered and it suddenly downed on him why he had the feeling that something wasn't right in that story. He looked at Liz and judging by her expression, the realization had downed on her too. "CIA has no business tracking down counterfeit money; it's not in their jurisdiction…"

"But Scott and his partner…Agent Angell ,I believe was her name, said this is why they were on to these guys…" Liz asked, apparently as lost as Don. "I can't believe we didn't realize it sooner."

"Violet Angell, she works with Scott?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, how do you know her?"

"I saw her in the hospital once-when I came visiting Colby…"

"So she knows Granger too…" Don said, lost in thoughts. "This whole thing doesn't make sense. Why would he lie about the counterfeit money…"

"Don, wait." Liz interrupted him. "What proof do we have that Scott works for the CIA?"

"What?" Don, Amita and Charlie asked together.

"I'm serious. Aside from him telling you this, do you have any other proof? Did you see a badge or any other confirmation…"

"Nom, but Colby's sister told David he works there, and besides, he's Colby's friend. If anything, we owe Colby to trust his judgment and the way he chooses his friends." Charlie really didn't like where this was going.

"I'm sorry Charlie, but she is right." Don agreed with Liz. "We should have known better than to trust this guy on his word only. Granger's friend or not, we should check this thing out." With that, he pulled out his phone and dialed the office.

"Megan, hi. Listen, I need to ask you something." Don began, feeling really uncomfortable about what he was about to ask. "Run a full background check on Scott Silvestri, please."

Apparently Megan had something to say because Don was silent for a few moments before continuing. "Yes, exactly. And whatever you can find on him would be helpful. Right...Ok, we'll be in the office soon."

Don hung up and turned to Liz. "Megan had the same thoughts as us; she'll meet us there."

"Should I call David?" Liz asked.

"No." Don said firmly. "I'm not sure how he'll take it, so let's just have some more information before we start pointing fingers."

Saying a quick goodbye to Charlie and Amita, Don and Liz left the house.

"Why; I don't like where this is going…"Amita asked sitting on the couch.

"Neither do I." Charlie agreed. "Neither do I…"

Numb3rs Numb3rs Numb3rs

"What did you find out?" Don asked as soon as he and Liz arrived at the office. Megan jumped from her seat and approached them fast, holding a file in her hands.

"You are not going to like it…" she started.

"What? He is not working for the CIA?"

"Well I don't know…"

"Meaning?" Liz was as surprised as Don. "Is his file classified?"

"Actually, there's no file at all."

"Maybe you can't find it because it's flagged?"

"No, there's no record for a Scott Silvestri to have ever worked for the CIA-" Megan began, but before Don could interrupt her, she continued. "But as far as mysteries go, there's no record of a Scott Silvestri ever existing."

"WHAT?"

"There's no social security number, driver's license or even a birth certificate. I ran his photo from the security cameras in the hospital through a facial recognition software and – nothing! Like he doesn't even exist!" Megan finished.

"Did you find anything on his partner? Violet Angell?" That didn't make sense.

"No, nothing." Megan shook her head no. "The same as Scott. She doesn't exist either. I don't know what to make of it, but the facts are – as far as the system goes, both of Granger's friends are ghosts."

There was a silence in the room for a few moments. Finally Liz spoke.

"So what do you think is going on here?"

"My guess is we involuntarily became a part of something that is not really our business." Megan suggested. "Maybe there's something high-profile going on. Something we shouldn't be working on."

"That's a possibility." Liz agreed. "But there's another one."

"Such as?"

"Oh come on! I hate to be the one to point out the obvious, but what if there's nothing going on? At least nothing legal."

"What do you mean?" Megan asked. Unfortunately she knew well enough what Liz meant.

"I mean, what if Scott, or what his real name is, is a part of something, but a part of something bad? Maybe he was a part of that gang we've just basted…"

"Wait, wait." Don interrupted her. "Before we go there, we should know that we have Colby's word as the only proof that this people are indeed working for the government. And if we start suspecting them it means we start suspecting Colby as well…"

Liz and Megan looked at each other and then at their boss.

"What should we do now?"

"I don't know… "Don admitted quietly.

Apparently things had gone wrong again. On one side, as an FBI team leader, Don knew he should investigate the story. But on the other , that meant showing Colby Granger that once again they didn't trust him. Somehow that was even worse.

"I need some time to think about our next move." Don said finally. "Take the afternoon, guys and…don't tell David anything yet. I really want us to be sure."

"OK." Megan and Liz nodded their agreement. They both understood why telling David about Scott was a bad idea.

Numb3rs Numb3rs Numb3rs

Oblivious to the problems that the rest of his teammates were facing, David went out to have dinner with Chris Granger. He told himself that the sole purpose of this evening was to get some insight on Granger's whereabouts but halfway through the dinner he realized he didn't mention Colby's name even once. He was actually quite enjoying the evening for what it was – a dinner with a beautiful and charming woman. The only reason he still refused to admit it was a date was the fact that Chris was Colby's baby sister. Somehow David knew that Colby wouldn't be too happy with him dating his sister.

"…and then I went skiing completely naked." He heard the end of what Chris was just saying. That didn't make sense…

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh, so you were listening." Chris laughed. "I kind of got the feeling that I've lost you half way."

"No, sorry about that, I was just thinking…about your brother." He admitted quietly.

"Oh, that's nice. Here you are with me, I'm trying to be all charming ,and you still think about my brother."

"No no…that's not..." David started explaining, but Chris just laughed.

"I'm kidding David, relax. You don't have to take anything so seriously. After all, I know why we are here." She leaned closer to him and whispered. "You want me to spill some secrets about my brother, right?" she asked, but she didn't give him a chance to answer. "So go on and ask – now that I'm no longer hungry – I'm an open book; I'll tell you anything you want to know."

If only David knew what his team was currently working on he would have taken Christina's invitation and asked her to explain the mystery behind the non-existence of Scott Silvestri and Violet Angell. Or at least he would have taken his time and ask her about how Scott and Colby have met.

But since Don decided to leave David out of it, David just asked Chris to tell him about what Colby was up to these past few months. However, her answer was not was he anticipated.

Numb3rs Numb3rs Numb3rs

"You know, I hate doing this to my sister."

Colby Granger was sitting next to Scott in a car, looking at Chris and David having dinner on the terrace of the restaurant.

"It was her choice, brother." Scott tried reassuring him. "She loves you, and she loves the job; she knows what she has to do."

"Yes, but it feels like I'm using her, and…"

"Is Chris the only one you are worried for?" Scott asked quietly.

Colby made a pause before answering. "No…I'm worried for David too. And for all of them… I hate doing this, Scott, I really do. After everything I put them through, they deserve better than that."

"I know." Scott squeezed his shoulder gently. "But we have no choice, Granger. Your team has come close enough to actually ruining our work; we had to do something to stop them."

"And making my baby sister seduce my bes…my friend-" he corrected himself,"-is the best way to do it?"

"She is not seducing him; they are just having dinner."

"Yeah… I hate this thing." Colby said again before putting the car in motion and driving away.

"**You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough****"**** Frank Crane **


	12. Chapter 12

Notes: Thank you for reading and commenting. Sorry for the delay, I've hurt my hand and typing wasn't really easy :) But I'm all better now, so I'll finish the story soon. And once again thanks to the-vampire-act for the beta work!

Chapter 12

**"What you perceive, your observations, feelings, interpretations, are all your truth. Your truth is important. Yet it is not The Truth." Linda Ellinor **

For the first time in months David Sinclair woke up with a smile on his face, feeling like things were actually looking up. After the disastrous half a year that followed Colby's "spy affair", David allowed himself to feel positive about the future. Even Phil, the coffee shop guy that made him coffee every morning, asked him if today was his birthday.

"Nope-"David answered, grinning. "Just feel good, man."

Agent Sinclair's smile was so contagious that after he left Phil kept on smiling for the better part of the day. Or maybe the huge tip that he got from the agent had something to do with the good mood.

Unaware of the problems he was about to face, David went to the office smiling and greeted every fellow agent he met on his way. He even thought of a funny way to tease Charlie. Today was definitely a good day.

Don, Megan and Liz were waiting for David at the office, not sure how to tell him about what they found out the previous day. Don have spent the whole night thinking about it, and he finally came up with the decision to tell David all of the facts. His late night conversation with Larry might have played a part for that decision.

_"Hey Donnie, you want a beer?" Alan Eppes asked his eldest son as soon as he saw him getting into the house._

_"Yes, thanks dad. Is Charlie home?" Don asked, taking off his jacket and coming into the hallway, where Alan and Larry were playing chess. "Hey Larry. How are things going in the monastery?"_

_"Well, considering that I'm spending more and more time here, I'd say not very well and answering your first question - no, he and Amita went to see a movie, I think, but they should be home soon, if you want to talk to him-"_

_"No, it's OK; I just stopped by to-" Don started explaining._

_"You don't need a reason to be here; it's your home too, son." Alan came from the kitchen with a beer and what looked like leftovers from the dinner._

_"Thanks dad, but you do realize you are no longer the owner of the house, right?" Don laughed taking a sip from the beer._

_"Tell that to your brother the next time he forgets to pay the bills." Alan said deadly serious, provoking a laugh from Don. "Is everything OK?"_

_"Yes-" Don started lying but then changed his mind. "Actually, there are some complications that might include Colby and…"_

_"Come on!" Alan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Won't he get a break? What kind of complications?"_

_"There is something going on with his friends…the ones we met at the hospital and now I'm not sure if I want to know what."_

_"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters." Larry said nonchalantly. Then taking in the looks of bewilderment on Don and Alan's faces explained. "Einstein. I always liked that quote."_

_"So you think I should look into it?"_

_""Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.'"_

_"Great." Don smirked. "Einstein again?"_

_"No, Yoda." Larry answered making his next chess move._

_"Yeah, thanks for the help, Larry."_

_"Always a pleasure."_

"Hey guys!" David greeted happily everybody.

"What's with the good mood?" Megan asked fearing the answer. She really hoped that David didn't get too involved with Colby's sister. Especially when they were about to tell him about what they found out yesterday. "I assume the date?"

"Yes it was gre-"David started then stopped. "It wasn't a date- just two people having dinner."

"Whatever helps you sleep, David." Megan smiled despite herself. "Did you find anything about Granger?"

"Actually yes." David said smiling. "Apparently he did not join the CIA as we thought he would. According to Chris he has been working..."David made a dramatic pause "As a bartender!"

"As a what?" Don joined the conversation. Granger a bartender? Things were looking stranger by the minute. "Are you sure?"

"Well, Chris said he wanted to take a break so he works in a bar…She asked me to go and visit him next week."

"Next week?" Liz asked surprised. "Why not this one?"

"She said he took a trip to Vegas with Scott…" David's tone changed with the sheer mentioning of Scott's name. Apparently he still disliked him.

"Huh…"Don wasn't sure how to tell David about what was going on. "Listen, now that you've mentioned Scott, there's something we need to tell you-"And he proceeded telling to a very speechless David what they found out the previous day.

When Don finished his explanation, a few thoughts simultaneously crossed David's mind. The first one was – why it never occur to him that CIA does not work with counterfeit money; the second – his gut was right after all and Scott Silvestri was not to be trusted; but the last one was the one that hurt the most – there was a huge chance Chris was lying to him the whole time.

Don gave his friend a few moments to process the information then spoke softly what felt like a déjà vu. "Look it all comes down to this – do we really believe what Granger told us? If we do ,we leave things this way and hope we are right, and if we don't , we go investigate this thing."

"I don't know what to believe, but I would like to find out." David said firmly- those were the exact same words he said when he still believed Colby was a traitor. This time, however, he believed his former partner was innocent, and he wanted to prove it.

"OK then." Don said after Megan, and Liz nodded their agreement. "But we'll do this whole thing very quietly. If there's indeed something highly profiled going on, we don't want to sabotage it."

"What do you want us to do?" Mega asked.

"We'll find everything we can on Scott and Violet, we look for connections between them and Granger and-" Don looked at David. "We follow Colby's sister."

"Wait, why?" David really didn't want to get Chris involved into this whole thing. "What does she have to do with it?"

"I don't know, I hope nothing." Don tried explaining as calmly as he possibly could. "But if she is somehow involved I want to know it. Do you know where she works?"

"Yes, at the same bar where she said Granger does…" David really started to hate this whole situation.

"Okay, great; call her and ask if she works tonight."

"Why? What if she does? And what if she doesn't?"

"If she does, you say you wanted to go out but you'll do it another time, if she doesn't… you'll just ask her out." Don smiled despite himself.

"Oh come on, Don. I don't want to do stuff like that."

"I'm sorry David, but that's an order." Don said firmly then turned his attention to the others. "Megan- Trace Granger's movements from the past few days. Credit cards, registrations, that kind of stuff. All the paper trail you can find. I want to know if Christina has told David the truth and Granger is indeed in Vegas."

"Got it." Megan stood up but before leaving she clapped David on the shoulder. "Good luck there Casanova."

"Yeah yeah…" David said grumpily, getting up too. "Did I mention that I don't like this whole idea?"

"You did." Liz laughed. "But sometimes you just have to take one for the team. Who knows, if this whole thing turns out to be just a misunderstanding, you and Granger might end up becoming a family."

"Oh shut up." With that David left to make the phone call he was ordered to do.

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"Yes, I'm sorry too…But I can't trade my shift...Yes...Okay, call me some other time; I'd really love to go out again. Bye." Chris Granger said, shutting down the phone.

"I hate it when you are right." she said, looking at her brother. "How did you know he'll call me?"

"I've spent two years working with these people." Colby smirked. "I know the way things go there. Right now, Megan is probably looking through my paper trail, backing up your story about Vegas."

"It's a good thing you gave Richard your credit card then." Violet came out of the kitchen and sat down next to Colby, putting her feet in his lap.

"Yeah, right; it won't be such a good thing after he spends all of my savings on poker." Granger complained and kissed Violet gently, but the kiss was quickly broken by Christina's disgusted protest.

"Eww, you two are so sweet; it's bad for my diabetes."

"You don't have diabetes." Colby's protested.

"I know, but I might catch it if you two don't get professional immediately."

"You can't "catch" diabetes." Violet made air quotes, mocking Chris.

"Kids, behave." Scott ordered putting four beers on the table.

"How much time do you think it will buy us?" Scott asked opening one of the beers. "This whole diversion thing we are pulling on Eppes and his team I mean?"

"I don't know- a couple of days tops." Colby obviously didn't like hearing the expression "Eppes and his team" because he used to be a part of that same team.

"Well then, that settles it – we speed things up." Scott concluded firmly.

"Great, so I should put on this awful outfit again?" Chris asked appalled, looking at her waitress uniform."

"Sometimes you just have to take one for the team, sis." Colby laughed humorlessly.

Things have gone wrong again, and he dreaded the moment when he would have to confront Don and the others. It was no longer a matter of "if" but of "when", so Colby just hoped he'd get another chance and that he wouldn't lose his friends for good this time.

**"Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working." Anonymous **


	13. Chapter 13

Notes: As always – thanks to the-vampire-act for the beta work. And thanks for reading. Comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

Chapter 13

**When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?" Sydney J. Harris**

"Explain to me again- why are we doing this?" a very grumpy David Sinclair asked his boss while the two of them were parked in the parking lot in front of a bar called "Sunrise".

Half an hour ago, they followed Chris Granger from her apartment to this particular bar.

"Because we want to know if she told you the truth." Don replied tiredly. "I don't like this as much as you don't, but you don't hear me complaining…"

"Yeah yeah…her story about Granger being in Vegas checks out, right? So what makes you think she lied about working in a bar?"

"David, come on; I didn't tell I don't believe her, but since we decided to check this story, we should check every angle. You know I'm right, right?"

"I know you are Don, it's just that-"David made a pause not sure how to continue.

Don just nodded. He knew way too well what David was thinking about. The same thoughts have crossed his mind numerous times. The fact that they were investigating Colby's friends was a clear indication that they didn't trust Granger. Don and David had stored enough guilt already about not trusting their friend, so it didn't make this job any more pleasant.

Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea after all. But just as Don was about to give up and call it a night, there was a knock on the window, followed but the car door being opened.

"Hey wha-" Both David and Don started.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your surveillance-"Chris Granger said taking a deep breath, "But I believe we have a problem. Can you please drive; I'll explain every th-."

But she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. The door she just closed after herself was being opened again and what looked like a gun was directed at her head.

"No one move or I'll should this pretty blond immediately!" said the owner of the gun in a very calm and quiet voice.

Don thought about going for his gun, but chances were, he won't be able to shoot. Besides, he had no idea what was going on. His experience in such situations has taught him that it is best to do whatever the criminal wants and not to provoke him. Obviously, David had the same thoughts because he didn't try to go for his gun. Yet he tried talking.

"Listen, leave her alone; she's just a waitress, We are the ones you need. FBI agents are worth more than…"

"Just a waitress, huh?" The man with the gun laughed. "Way to go Agent Granger."

"Agent Granger? You are mistaking her with her brother." David tried protesting.

"David, I'm sorry. I really am" Chris said, looking David straight in the eyes. Then she turned her attention to her attacker. "Leave them alone and I'll go with you."

"Lying to your friends, Chris? Just like your big brother." He obviously didn't pay her words any attention.

"Listen, why-" Chris tried again but that attempt only gained her a hard slap across the face. Don and David both flinched. They didn't like where this was going

"No, you listen!" the guy yelled. "From now on we do what I tell, or-" He waved the gun in front of Christina's face.

While the armed man was busy yelling at Colby's sister, Don was calculating his next move. He knew it would take him less than two seconds to get his gun and shoot but sometimes it was too long. However he couldn't act upon his plan. One moment he was staring at the man with the gun, the next one he felt a blinding pain and the world went blank.

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The world was blurry. Don blinked a couple of times, not able to see clearly. He had no idea where he was or how long he was there, all he knew was that there was a burning pain at the back of his head and he could swore he heard a familiar voice, calling his name.

"Don! Come on man, wake up!" Colby was shaking a barely conscious Don Eppes, trying to wake him up. "We have to go."

"Colby?" Don asked, still not able to see clearly. "What the hell happened? Where's David?"

"He's fine. They've got my sister."

"Wait, who are THEY?" Don asked standing up. "What is going on?"

"I promise I'll explain everything, just not here, please." Colby was almost begging now. "I know I don't deserve it, but please trust me on this one."

"Okay." was all that Don answered. He could do that.

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"So what is going on, Colby?" Don asked as soon as they arrived at Charlie's house.

Megan, David, Liz, Charlie, and Amita were also there. Don wanted to go to the office but Colby insisted it was not safe, so instead they drove to Charlie's place. Luckily Alan was out so they didn't have to worry for him. Their was also joined by Scott and Violet, who sat quietly and waited for Granger to talk. After all it was his old team that was now involved.

Don called the rest of the team on their way to the house and told them briefly what happened. Now they all waited for Colby to give some answers.

"It all started when I first came home from the hospital." Granger began. "There was a letter waiting for me. More like a threat, I may say."

"A threat?" Megan asked not quite sure how to understand it. "What did it say? Who was it from?"

"Well, it basically said that I'm a dead man walking." Colby laughed grimly. "As from who was it from…by that time I had no idea. It wasn't signed."

"You didn't take it seriously?" Amita inquired. If anything, Agent Granger was notorious for not taking things seriously until it was too late.

"Oh I took it seriously alright. With all of the things I went through, I decided that it's not worth my pride and showed the letter to-" he made a pause, clearly not comfortable, "to some authorities. They told me to be careful and report everything I find suspicious." He finished vaguely. "Don't get me wrong, you guys would have been my first choice to share that kind of stuff with, but with all that happened… I just didn't feel like…"

He didn't finish that sentence. He didn't have to, because everyone understood what he meant. Don just nodded, motioning to him to go on.

"At the same time Scott called, we hadn't seen each other in years, and he had heard about the whole spy fiasco, so we went out for a drink. After that we stayed in touch and when I decided to get the DC job, Scott asked me to move in with him for a couple of days."

"I thought that maybe I'll get him to change his mind and stay in LA." Scott joined the conversation. "This one time we went out for a drink and when we got home, there was a dead rat on the porch of my house and a note – that's how rats should be treated."

"Not nice." Charlie said disgusted. Scott just laughed.

"It wasn't nice at all. At first I thought it was for me, because I'm not really a poster boy for playing nice, but then Granger told me the whole story and we kind of agreed it was for him."

"That's how Scott got involved in the whole thing." Colby cleared that part.

"Wait, so you are really CIA?" It didn't make sense; Megan herself had checked the records and saw that he wasn't.

"Yes, he is." Colby answered for his friend. "But I'll get to that later. Do you remember when I told you I was going to DC? Before I came back to talk to Jason?"

Everyone nodded, so ? went on.

"While I was leaving the building, I got a text saying, "You can run but you cannot hide" or something like that."

"Seriously?" Liz could swear no one used that line anymore. Not even in bad movies.

"Yeah…Anyways, after the shooting, while I was recovering at the hospital, I made Scott and Angell check something for me."

"Long story short-" Violet joined the conversation. "That guy, Granger was spying on – Mason Lancer – had a brother."

Now everyone could see where this was going. "What made you think it was him threatening you?" Don asked.

"A hunch, I guess. I looked him up, turns out he was a cop, a dirty one."

"And while he was hunting you, you were investigating him?"

"Sort of, yes."

It did made sense that Granger would do something like that with little to no help. Yet there was something that didn't make sense and Megan had to clear that up.

"I'm sorry, but what's with the nonexistent agents Scott and Angell?"

"Ah, that." Violet laughed despite herself. "That was Scott's pure genius, or you know, stupidity."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, that somehow Lancer's brother was involved with that gang you've busted, and we were afraid that if you dug deeper into it you'd find the connection and ruin our work."

"And I'm sorry, but we did spend an awful amount of time working on that angle, so I just couldn't let that happen." Scott added apologetically. "So I had to think fast. I came up with that fake story about the counterfeit money, knowing that sooner or later it will make you check me up. I made a friend delete Violet's and my records, so that-"

"We wasted our time wondering why you are not in the system." Megan finished for him.

"Yes, sorry, I know it wasn't nice, but we needed a diversion." Scott answered sheepishly.

"We thought we could get enough evidence to get him arrested, but we were wrong." Colby said seriously and somehow sadly. "He's got Chris and we have to-"Colby's voice broke and he didn't finish his sentence. Instead he took a deep breath before continueing. "Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but please, for old time's sake. She's my sister."

If three years ago someone had told David Sinclair that his newly appointed partner Colby Granger would cause so much contradiction and havoc, David would have trusted his first impression and requested a new partner. Because at first, he didn't like Colby at all.

Now, after everything they've been through, David had somehow found himself in what looked like an abandoned warehouse, tied to a chair with Colby's sister was tied to the chair next to his. Although he still didn't know what was going on, from the little pieces of information he got he somehow managed to see the whole picture. Sure, there were holes in it, but he still got the basic idea.

"Okay." David spoke for the first time for this evening. "What do you want us to do?"

"Actually, we do have a plan…"

"**What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything****?"****- Vincent van Gogh **


	14. Chapter 14

_A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.__  
__George S. Patton_

"Actually… we do have a plan" Colby said a little bit unsure.

Don, Megan, Liz and David quickly exchanged glances and nodded their agreement. Then Don spoke for all of them. "So, fill us in then."

And so Colby did. While the rest of them were listening quietly, asking questions where needed, Granger quickly explained what was about to happen. By the end of his explanation everyone in the room felt like maybe, just maybe they did have a chance of getting Chris Granger back safe.

When they were done discussing the plan and everyone got an assigned task, Colby felt like he needed some air so he excused himself and went out to the backyard. He stood there for what looked like a long time, but actually wasn't more than a few minutes, just staring at the dark sky, trying to hold it together.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a gentle cough, followed by a hand at his shoulder. He turned around startled.

"Hey, calm down-"David asked calmly. "I didn't want to scare you."

"Nah, you didn't, I was just-"Colby didn't finish his sentence, not really being able to explain.

"Look-"they both started at the same time and then laughed awkwardly. David found his ground first so he spoke.

"We are going to get her back, I promise. For what I've seen of your sister, she looks like a tough one. She will be alright."

Colby just smiled. "I know, but thanks for saying it. Listen, David, I want to-"

David just waved him off. "We'll talk later, now let's get Granger junior back. Now come on, I think we are ready to go."

"Sounds good." Colby agreed and followed David inside.

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No one admitted it to Granger, but the plan was kind of insane. Megan didn't like it at all. Of course she understood it was their best chance for a successful outcome, but she still hated the idea that Granger was about to put himself in danger again. But it was not her call to make so she just followed orders.

Right now, she and Liz were sitting in the SUV, waiting to be needed. Megan hated waiting. Being a back up meant that if things went wrong they would have to show up. And no one wanted things to go wrong.

Agent Reeves were a person of action; she always preferred doing something to not doing it, that's why this current situation was quite irritating. Judging by the expression Liz had on her face, she was having those exact same thoughts.

Finally Liz broke the silence.

"Tell me again, how did Granger know that they are keeping his sister in here?"

"Apparently Scott and Violet followed them to here." Megan answered automatically.

"But they could have moved her by now."

"Scott said that Chris has a GPS tracker on her. It shows she's still here."

"They could have found it and thrown it away." Liz was still unwilling to accept the plan.

"I know, but right now we have to hope they didn't." Megan was not too happy about this idea also, but she just needed to believe that everything would be alright. "We have to trust Granger, Liz. It's his sister we are talking about. I doubt it that he wants to risk her life."

Liz nodded and didn't say anything. They just have to wait and hope their presence won't be needed.

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"Are you sure you want to do this?" Granger asked for what felt like a hundredth time.

"Yes I am! Now shut up. We do it as a team." David's tone was hard to argue with.

Don nodded his agreement. "Do you hear him Granger? As a team. No solo work this time, okay?"

As a team. That sounded almost too good to be true. But Colby decided to dwell on to that later. So he just agreed quietly.

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now, let's roll." Don winked and spat out his gum.

**Numb3rs Numb3rs Numb3rs**

The world was blurry. Or was it the pain in her…well, whole body that was making it blurry? Chris wasn't sure. She concentrated at the task in hand – open her eyes and see what was going on.

"Hey, look who's finally awake." A sleazy voice announced.  
Chris winced in disgust as the voice was soon followed by a much sleazier hand, caressing her cheek. "Waky waky, sleepy head." The owner of the voice and the hand materialized in front of her.

Great. He wasn't wearing a mask. That was not a good sign when dealing with kidnapping.

"What do you want from me?" Chris flinched as the Sleazy Hand was touching her again.

"From you? Oh, I'm sorry to bring it up to you sweet heart, but you are nothing more than a bait." Another voice announced and Chris heard footsteps. "Jake, leave her alone…for now. We don't want to damage the goods. Save your lust and energy for when her brother comes here."

Colby. Oh god! They were using her to get to Colby. And she let herself be taken. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Chris didn't need to hear the rest of the story. She knew pretty well who was behind that.

"Listen, Mr. Lancer, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Colby would never show up here."

"Oh, so you figured it out, huh? Smart girl."

Michael Lancer appeared from behind Christina's back and kneeled before her.

"If he wants to see his baby sister again, he will. And I can assure you, we'll be waiting for him."

Lancer smiled at her. Chris spat in his face, hoping she could annoy him enough to kill her. But the bastard just wiped his face, and smiled at her again.

"Save your energy, missy. You'll need it."

"I'm telling you again, Colby would never show up he-"

"Boss!" Christina's rant was interrupted by another male voice. "I was just informed that someone resembling Colby Granger is approaching the warehouse. By the looks of it – he is alone."

"You were saying?" Lancer looked at Christina but before she could answer he smacked her across the face strong enough to draw blood from her nose and mouth.

Chris took it without a sound. She felt like she deserved it – she lead her brother to his sure death. She just prayed it would be quick. She closed her eyes and waited. Seconds later she heard door opening and Colby's voice.

"So, I'm here. Let her go."

"Well, hello, Mr. Granger." Michael Lancer made a sign to his people to let Granger approach him.

Colby looked around. His heart skipped a few beats when he saw Chris tied to a chair in the center of the room, right where Lancer was standing. By the looks of it – she was beaten, but alive. That bastard was going to pay.

"Let her go," Colby repeated again.

"Well, it doesn't work that way." Lancer laughed and made a sign to one of his man who immediately came behind Colby's back and handcuffed him.

"You know, when we were growing up, Manson was always looking up to me. He was my sweet baby brother." Colby had hard time imagining it. The creepy animal who was sticking needles in him fishing for information, didn't look like a sweet "baby brother" to him at all.

"Do you know how it feels getting a call inviting you to your brother's funeral, huh?" Michael punched Colby in the face.

"Your brother was a criminal, not a saint." Colby said calmly. "And I didn't kill him."

"No, you didn't, but it was because of you. Because you had to put your nose where it doesn't belong. And now-"Lancer looked at Chris, who was looking horrified. "Now, little Granger is going to pay. And you'll have the privilege to be in the first row and watch."

Lancer gestured to "Sleazy Hand" who was waiting nearby.

"Now, you can have the little bitch. Just be sure to put on a good show for our VIP guest here."

He laughed. It was the most disgusting sound Granger has ever heard.

Colby closed his eyes and actually prayed. He prayed for his friends to come here in time and he made a promise – to himself and to the whole universe – no more lies. If only they make it out alive – he'll change his life.  
Granger opened his eyes again just in time to see Sleazy Hand trying to kiss his baby sister.

Then, a few things happened at once : Chris spat in Sleazy Hand's face, Colby screamed for him to leave her alone and a door being broken indicated that someone was going in.

"FBI, get drop your weapons and get down on your knees, now!" David and Don yelled.

What the hell? Colby looked horrified as his friends appeared in his line of vision pointing guns at Lancer's people. No, no, no! That was not the plan! What were they doing? And where was the back up? How did they expect to win against a little army?

Didn't they trust him enough to follow his plan?

"_Trust is like a vase.. once it's broken, though you can fix it the vase will never be same again.__" Anonymous_

**Notes : thank you so much for reading. I'm really really sorry that it took me so much time to update this story. I was going through some stuff and kind of lost any ambition to write, but now I feel like I want and need to finish this story. Thank you for all of your nice comments and messages of encouragement. Hope I won't disappoint you.**


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